Simultaneous attacks in Egypt's Sinai kill 26

[webfact]

Simultaneous attacks in Egypt's Sinai kill 26
ASHRAF SWEILAM, Associated Press

EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) — Militants struck more than a dozen army and police targets in the restive Sinai Peninsula with simultaneous attacks involving a car bomb and mortar rounds on Thursday, killing at least 26 security officers.

An Army spokesman immediately blamed former Islamist President Mohammed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood of orchestrating the attack, which killed 25 Army soldiers and one policeman.

The wide-ranging attacks late Thursday required a previously unseen level of coordination. At least one car bomb was set off outside a military base, while mortars were simultaneously fired at the base, toppling some buildings and leaving soldiers buried under the debris, official said.

Other attacks included mortar rounds fired at a hotel, a police club and more than a dozen checkpoints, officials said.

The militants struck the Northern Sinai provincial capital el-Arish, the nearby town of Sheik Zuwayid and the town of Rafah bordering Gaza.

Hours before the attack, the Islamic State affiliate in Egypt posted on its official Twitter account pictures of masked militants dressed in black. They were carrying rocket-propelled grenades in a show of force, while flying the Islamic State black flag.

The Islamic State affiliate later took credit for Thursday's attacks on Twitter, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.

The group previously known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis has launched several attacks against police and the army in Sinai in recent years. Ansar Beit al-Maqdis was initially inspired by al-Qaida, but last year it pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, which controls large parts of Syria and Iraq.

At least 60 people were wounded in the attack, according to medical officials, who also confirmed the death toll. Officials said the death toll was expected to rise. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

In a statement posted on his official Facebook page, Army Spokesman Ahmed Samir blamed the Muslim Brotherhood group for orchestrating the attacks.

In a brief statement, he said that because of the "successful strikes" by army and police against terrorist elements in Sinai, militants attacked a number of army and police headquarters using car bombs and mortars. He said that security forces are exchanging gunfire with the militants.

The explosions smashed windows and shook residential areas in el-Arish. Electricity went off across el-Arish.

The army chief-turned-President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who led the ouster of Morsi, has been depicted as by nationalist media as the rescuer of Egypt from Islamic militancy.

El-Sissi led a wide crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, who staged near daily demonstrations demanding Morsi's reinstatement, imprisoning thousands and killing hundreds in street protests.

In apparent retaliation, militants launched a spate of attacks that ranged from homemade explosive devices to suicide attacks.

The areas where the attacks took place have been under a state of emergency and a curfew since October, when militants killed 31 soldiers in an attack on a checkpoint in Sinai, the deadliest for the military in recent history.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for that attack in a video posting that showed militants spraying soldiers with bullets and vowing more attacks.

In an attempt to stop weapons smuggling to and from the Gaza Strip, authorities demolished houses and residential buildings located within 500 meters of the border, where a complex network of tunnels had long been used to bring consumer goods, as well as weapons and fighters, to and from the Palestinian territory.

Sinai-based militants have exploited long-held grievances in the impoverished north of the peninsula, where the mainly Bedouin population has complained of neglect by Cairo authorities and where few have benefited from the famed tourist resorts in the more peaceful southern part of Sinai. The police in northern Sinai largely fled during the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak, as militants attacked their stations and killed scores of security forces.

The Thursday attacks are expected to cause a great deal of embarrassment to the Egyptian government and military after nearly a yearlong offensive in Sinai aimed at uprooting Islamic militants under the banner of fighting terrorism, is largely failing.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-01-30

[rickirs]

At the risk of sounding macabe, these Islamic terrorist attacks against Egyptian armed forces helps bind Muslim Eygypt and Jewish Israel together against a common enemy. Israel couldn't ask for better results to keep its southern flank protected by the Eqyptian military. It even has the Egyptians actively interdicting the flow of countraband into Palestine from a direction over which Israel has little or no control.

[Steely Dan]

I guess many of the Muslim Brotherhood top brass will claim innocence seeing as they are in the U.S at present having talks with the state department.

P.S by the scarcity of posts on this thread reveals the exchange rate between Egyptians killed by Islamists and Palestinians killed by Israelis.

[Morch]

I guess many of the Muslim Brotherhood top brass will claim innocence seeing as they are in the U.S at present having talks with the state department.

P.S by the scarcity of posts on this thread reveals the exchange rate between Egyptians killed by Islamists and Palestinians killed by Israelis.

The attack was carried out by an organization more to do with the Islamic State. Not BFFs with the Muslim Brotherhood.

[Steely Dan]

I guess many of the Muslim Brotherhood top brass will claim innocence seeing as they are in the U.S at present having talks with the state department.

P.S by the scarcity of posts on this thread reveals the exchange rate between Egyptians killed by Islamists and Palestinians killed by Israelis.

The attack was carried out by an organization more to do with the Islamic State. Not BFFs with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Sorry, the only difference is in the pace of jihad not in the ideology behind them. IS and Al Qaeda are different, just as Coke and Pepsi are.

[Morch]

I guess many of the Muslim Brotherhood top brass will claim innocence seeing as they are in the U.S at present having talks with the state department.

P.S by the scarcity of posts on this thread reveals the exchange rate between Egyptians killed by Islamists and Palestinians killed by Israelis.

The attack was carried out by an organization more to do with the Islamic State. Not BFFs with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Sorry, the only difference is in the pace of jihad not in the ideology behind them. IS and Al Qaeda are different, just as Coke and Pepsi are.

I believe you were talking about the Muslim Brotherhood. Is your claim now that they are in league with the Islamic State? That there is active cooperation between the two?

[Steely Dan]

I guess many of the Muslim Brotherhood top brass will claim innocence seeing as they are in the U.S at present having talks with the state department.

P.S by the scarcity of posts on this thread reveals the exchange rate between Egyptians killed by Islamists and Palestinians killed by Israelis.

The attack was carried out by an organization more to do with the Islamic State. Not BFFs with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Sorry, the only difference is in the pace of jihad not in the ideology behind them. IS and Al Qaeda are different, just as Coke and Pepsi are.

I believe you were talking about the Muslim Brotherhood. Is your claim now that they are in league with the Islamic State? That there is active cooperation between the two?

Of course not, the pace of jihad, which I mentioned is enough to rule that out. Conflicting tactical considerations, but the same overall strategic goal. As it stands the U.S administration has now backed away from even calling the Taliban terrorists, they are now an 'insurgency'. Shame about all the blood and treasure expended in freeing Afghanistan from an insurgency. You would have thought the leaders of the civilized world would be backing El Sisi to the hilt what with his call for a reform of Islamic jurisprudence, as it is I suspect they will no longer be able to procure arms to fight Jihaddists any more than Nigeria can.

After a while the long series of circumstantial events can only lead to one conclusion (though I suspect you will differ), and that is a Machiavellian game is afoot which on the surface appears to empower the enemies of the western world.

[Morch]

The attack was carried out by an organization more to do with the Islamic State. Not BFFs with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Sorry, the only difference is in the pace of jihad not in the ideology behind them. IS and Al Qaeda are different, just as Coke and Pepsi are.

I believe you were talking about the Muslim Brotherhood. Is your claim now that they are in league with the Islamic State? That there is active cooperation between the two?

Of course not, the pace of jihad, which I mentioned is enough to rule that out. Conflicting tactical considerations, but the same overall strategic goal. As it stands the U.S administration has now backed away from even calling the Taliban terrorists, they are now an 'insurgency'. Shame about all the blood and treasure expended in freeing Afghanistan from an insurgency. You would have thought the leaders of the civilized world would be backing El Sisi to the hilt what with his call for a reform of Islamic jurisprudence, as it is I suspect they will no longer be able to procure arms to fight Jihaddists any more than Nigeria can.

After a while the long series of circumstantial events can only lead to one conclusion (though I suspect you will differ), and that is a Machiavellian game is afoot which on the surface appears to empower the enemies of the western world.

*posts removed to allow reply*

You got that one right, not buying into global conspiracy theories. Much less inclined to even consider then when plain facts are disregarded. I would guess that if and when Islamic State affiliated organizations will move against Muslim Brotherhood outfits that would be incorporated into the presumed master plan as well. It's a wonder Obama wasn't mentioned....

[lovetotravel]

I went through the Sinai a few years ago. It was like a ghost town. One of the strangest places I've ever been. Beautiful beaches. Mile upon mile. And abandoned resorts. Mile after mile. Very strange.

[Harveyg]

At the risk of sounding macabe, these Islamic terrorist attacks against Egyptian armed forces helps bind Muslim Eygypt and Jewish Israel together against a common enemy. Israel couldn't ask for better results to keep its southern flank protected by the Eqyptian military. It even has the Egyptians actively interdicting the flow of countraband into Palestine from a direction over which Israel has little or no control.

I'm not sure if Israel has some agreement with Egypt re contraband flow to Gaza. But if that's so, are you making some sort of judgment about it or satirical remark towards Israel?

[Morch]

@Harveyg

That would depend on the definition of scope of "what's developing". Granted, I'm not much into the concept of well-coordinated global efforts being a serious proposition in most cases. They don't even work that well when played out in the open and with regards to relatively harmless issues. But I suspect I'm in for a lecture....

[Harveyg]

P.S by the scarcity of posts on this thread reveals the exchange rate between Egyptians killed by Islamists and Palestinians killed by Israelis.

This is superbly stated IMO. I wonder, are there ever any anti Semitic claims made about posts made?

Several times I've noticed that when questionable comments are made, there is total silence re the comment.

I'm sort of new so I don't know the history.

[Harveyg]

@Harveyg

That would depend on the definition of scope of "what's developing". Granted, I'm not much into the concept of well-coordinated global efforts being a serious proposition in most cases. They don't even work that well when played out in the open and with regards to relatively harmless issues. But I suspect I'm in for a lecture....

No lecture Morch 555. I wouldn't claim to know anything about well coordinated efforts, but I wouldn't be surprised if things get quite a bit more ugly....and if the Shiite Sunni thing ever gets put aside, Israel might have to flex some real muscle. And I think we know that Israel doesn't wait for s**t to happen.

[Morch]

P.S by the scarcity of posts on this thread reveals the exchange rate between Egyptians killed by Islamists and Palestinians killed by Israelis.

This is superbly stated IMO. I wonder, are there ever any anti Semitic claims made about posts made?

Several times I've noticed that when questionable comments are made, there is total silence re the comment.

I'm sort of new so I don't know the history.

People largely ignore Muslim on Muslim violence, nothing new.

And the media tolerance level for terrorists attack rises all the time - so if its in some obscure place (for most people) and there are no images, no human drama angle, it doesn't get as much attention. There was an an AQ attack in Pakistan (on a Shia mosque) today, with about the same number of casualties.

[Lissos]

Read an article today which described Abu Musab al Zarqawi as the "founder" of ISIS.

It's not the first time different eras and movements have been fused together by writers.

But then again, the article was written by The Guardian, so no surprise there. ?

If he founded anything, it was orange jumpsuit jihadi hostage snuff movies.

[Steely Dan]

Perhaps I was too quick to rule out operational cooperation between ISIS and the Muslim brotherhood, that's if one degree of separation counts, seeing as an Egyptian court concludes Hamas was involved in the attack. Meanwhile the Muslim Brotherhood delegation to Washington returns and days later announces an 'unrelenting jihad' against the Egyptian government. Yet another coincidence I see. P.s the link is from Debka, but all that matters is whether the involvement of Hamas was true or not.

http://app.debka.com/p/newsupdate/10379/

[Morch]

Perhaps I was too quick to rule out operational cooperation between ISIS and the Muslim brotherhood, that's if one degree of separation counts, seeing as an Egyptian court concludes Hamas was involved in the attack. Meanwhile the Muslim Brotherhood delegation to Washington returns and days later announces an 'unrelenting jihad' against the Egyptian government. Yet another coincidence I see. P.s the link is from Debka, but all that matters is whether the involvement of Hamas was true or not.

http://app.debka.com/p/newsupdate/10379/

The Egyptian court did not conclude that the Hamas was involved in this attack. There was an motion to include the Hamas military wing in the list of terrorist organizations, which was largely based on allegations concerning Hamas involvement in an earlier attack, a few months ago, and that it assists the Muslim Brotherhood within Egypt (the Muslim Brotherhood being outlawed previously). The Hamas involvement seems to be in connection with smuggling weapons out of Gaza.

The case was dismissed earlier this week, as the court declared it had no authority to rule on the case (the legal details of why the court came to this decision elude me). This ruling, however, was reversed following the recent attacks. As far as I am aware, the recent attacks were not officially cited as the reason for the reversal, although hard to imagine they are not related.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/31/us-egypt-hamas-idUSKBN0L40BS20150131 (the part regarding the case dismissed to begin with may not appear in the Reuters report).