Egypt bombs IS targets in Libya after beheading of 21 nationals.

Cairo: The Grand Imam of Al Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed  al Tayeb (right), offers condolences to Egypt’s Coptic  Pope Tawadros II at a cathedral on Monday

CAIRO | AFP | 17 Feb 2015 : :  Egyptian jets bombed Islamic State targets in Libya on Monday, a day after the group there released a video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians, drawing Cairo directly into the conflict across its border.

Egypt said the pre-dawn strike hit militant camps, training sites and weapons storage areas in neighbouring Libya, where civil conflict has plunged the country into near anarchy and created havens for armed factions.

While Cairo is believed to have provided clandestine support to a Libyan general fighting a rogue government in Tripoli, the mass killings pushed President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi into open action, expanding his battle against Islamist militancy.

“And let those near and far know that the Egyptians have a shield that protects and preserves the security of the country, and a sword that eradicates terrorism,” the military said.

Egyptian state television aired footage of fighter planes leaving a hangar with “Long live Egypt” emblazoned on the tails, followed by night-vision aerial footage showing bomb explosions and the aircraft returning in early daylight.

Libya’s air force also participated in Monday’s attack, which targeted Derna, an eastern coastal city seen as a base for Islamic State fighters in the oil-rich nation.

“There are casualties among individuals, ammunition and the (Islamic State) communication centres,” Libyan air force commander Saqer al-Joroushi told Egyptian state television, adding that dozens were killed.

Joroushi, who is loyal to Libya’s internationally recognised government that set up camp in the city of Tobruk after losing control of Tripoli, said there would be more strikes on Tuesday.

The rival Tripoli-based parliament, which is supported by some Islamist groups, said the strike was an assault on the country’s sovereignty. Omar al-Hassi, the premier of the self-declared Tripoli government, said three children, two elderly men and a 21-year-old woman were killed in the attack.

It was not possible to confirm either factions’ accounts of the number or nature of the casualties.

CHRISTIAN ANGER: Cairo called on the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria to broaden the scope of their operations to include Libya, highlighting how the militant group has expanded its reach around the Arab world.

The US military estimated in December that only around 200 Islamic State fighters were operating in the country.

Egypt is not the only Arab nation sucked into confrontation with the group by the gruesome killings of its citizens.

The 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians were marched to a beach, forced to kneel and then beheaded on video, which was broadcast via a website that supports Islamic State.

Before the videoed killings, one of the militants stood with a knife in his hand and said: “Safety for you crusaders is something you can only wish for.” Afterwards, he says: “And we will conquer Rome, by the will of Allah.” The head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, condemned the beheadings.

“They were killed simply for the fact that they were Christians,” he said at the Vatican. “It makes no difference whether they be Catholics, Orthodox, Copts or Protestants. They are Christians!” Egypt’s Coptic Christian pope was one of the public figures who backed Sisi when he, as army chief, ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 after mass protests against him.

France has said Egypt will order 24 Rafale fighter jets, a naval frigate and other equipment in a deal to be signed in Cairo on Monday worth more than 5 billion euros ($5.7bn).

French President Francois Hollande said on Monday that he and Sisi wanted the United Nations Security Council to discuss Libya and take new measures against the Islamic State. ( Courtesy : Dawn )

Egypt military helicopters hit Sinai militants: Security.

Egypt military helicopters hit Sinai militants: Security.

The wreckage of a burnt car is seen after assaults on militant
 targets by the Egyptian Army, in a village on the outskirts of
 Sheikh Zuweid, near the city of el-Arish in Egypt's Sinai peninsula
 September 10, 2013. (Reuters)

Cairo | AFP | 13 Sep 2013 :: Egyptian military helicopters on Friday carried out air strikes on Islamist militant positions in Sinai, two days after suicide bombers killed six soldiers in the restive peninsula, security sources said.

Apache helicopters targeted hideouts and vehicles used by the militants near the town of Sheikh Zuwayid in northern Sinai, the sources said.

On Wednesday, two car bombs targeting the military intelligence headquarters in the town of Rafah and a nearby checkpoint killed six soldiers and the two militants who drove the vehicles.

A little known jihadist group in Sinai claimed responsibility for the attacks in the town bordering the Gaza Strip.

Jund al-Islam, or Islam’s Soldiers in English, made the claim in a statement posted on militant Islamist forums.

The group accused the Egyptian military of targeting “unarmed Muslims” in its campaign to quell an Islamist militant insurgency in north Sinai.

The military has poured troops and armour into Sinai to crush the insurgency which surged after the army overthrew Egypt’s Islamist president Mohammad Mursi on July 3.

A subsequent crackdown on Islamists left hundreds killed and more than 2,000 arrested across the country.(Courtesy:Al Arabiya)

Egyptian soldiers kill 9 militants in Sinai operation.

Egyptian soldiers kill 9 militants in Sinai operation.

File photo shows Egyptian soldiers in military vehicles
 proceedin toward the al-Jura district in el-Arish in northern Sinai.

Press Tv | 11 Sep 2013 ::The Egyptian military has killed nine militants in the Sinai Peninsula, where the army has launched a major clearing operation against extremist insurgents.

The strike was carried out by army troops, who backed by helicopter gunships, attacked militant hideouts in the restive area, a military source said, on condition of anonymity, on Tuesday. 

Ten others were also arrested in the raids, he added. 

On Monday, the army also discovered explosives, weapons and ammunition during its operation in the villages of el-Mahdiya and Naga Shabana. 

Egypt launched a major military offensive against extremists in Sinai on September 7, after months of clashes with militants. 

The army has described the campaign as "the largest military operation to purge Sinai of terrorism." 

Nearly 30 militants have been killed in the operations over the past three days. 

Violence in Sinai has intensified since Egypt’s first democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi was ousted by the military in early July, with militants launching near-daily attacks on security forces. (Courtesy:PressTv)

Egypt: Militants Kill 24 Army Troops In Ambush.

Egypt: Militants Kill 24 Army Troops In Ambush.

Militants have killed 24 army troops in an ambush in the wake of the military's brutal crackdown, according to Egyptian officials.

Egyptian army soldiers outside the Supreme
 Constitutional Court in Cairo

UK | 19 Aug 2013 :: Militants have apparently killed 24 military personnel in an ambush in northern Sinai, officials in Egypt have claimed.

It follows the brutal suppression of supporters of the ousted president Mohammed Morsi, in which 750 people were killed.

The military cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood, raiding homes and making hundreds of arrests following scenes of bloodshed in Cairo.

In response the supporters have pledged days of protest.

It comes as European Union ambassadors are to meet today to discuss the crisis in Egypt amid international alarm at the growing death toll from unrest across the country.

The meeting comes as Egypt's interim military government cracks down on the supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi.

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and the president of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy have issued a rare joint statement warning that the EU would "urgently" review its relations with Egypt over the coming days.

Prime Minister David Cameron and French president Francois Hollande have called for today's meeting of ambassadors in Brussels to be followed by an emergency session of EU foreign ministers.

Britain has condemned the "disproportionate use of force" by the Egyptian authorities and called on all sides to end the violence and to enter dialogue.

In their statement, Mr Barroso and Mr Van Rompuy said all political forces in Egypt must recommit to the country's democratic future and called on the army to support a move towards early elections and the establishment of a civilian government.(Courtesy:Sky News)

Egypt's carnage kills 578 as crisis deepens.

Egypt's carnage kills 578 as crisis deepens.

A man grieves as he looks at one of many bodies
 laid out in a make shift morgue after Egyptian
security forces stormed two huge protest camps
at the Rabaa al-Adawiya and Al-Nahda squares
where supporters of ousted president Mohamed
 Morsi were camped, in Cairo, on August 14,
 2013. — Photo AFP

CAIRO | AFP | 16 Aug 2013 ::  At least 578 people were killed in the violence that swept Egypt Wednesday, the health ministry said, with more than 300 of them losing their lives after police assaults on Cairo sit-ins.

The death toll included 43 policemen and 318 protesters killed in Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda square protest camps, senior health ministry official Khaled al-Khatib told AFP Thursday. In total, 535 civilians died nationwide.

The army-backed interim government imposed a month-long nationwide state of emergency, and curfews in Cairo and 13 other provinces.

Shortly after the curfew ended on Thursday morning, light traffic began returning to Cairo's streets, with roads blocked for weeks by the pro-Morsi protests now reopened.

A health ministry official said at least 300 civilians had been killed throughout the country, updating an earlier toll. The interior ministry added that 43 security personnel had lost their lives.

Egypt's press carried photos Thursday of Morsi supporters brandishing weapons and throwing stones at police during the previous day's confrontations.

“The nightmare of the Brotherhood is gone,” daily Al-Akhbar's front page headline read.

“The Brotherhood's last battle,” added Al-Shorouk.

At least four churches were attacked, with Christian activists accusing Morsi loyalists of waging “a war of retaliation against Copts in Egypt”.

The day's violence was the worst since the 2011 uprising that ousted president Hosni Mubarak, with an AFP correspondent counting at least 124 bodies in makeshift morgues in the Rabaa al-Adawiya protest site.(Courtesy:Dawn)Read More>>>

5 killed in series of attacks on el-Arish.

5 killed in series of attacks on el-Arish.

12 injured as terrorists aim to drive out Egyptian military and form an ‘Islamic Emirate’ in the restive Sinai peninsula.

Egyptian military vehicles in the northern Sinai following
 a July 4, 2013 attack by Islamist gunmen. (photo credit
: image capture from YouTube)

Egypt | El-ARISH | AP | 22 Jul 2013 :: Coordinated day and nighttime attacks Sunday by emboldened militants in Egypt’s northern Sinai Peninsula targeted different areas in the main city of el-Arish and a border town, killing one civilian and four security officers, according to officials.

The pace of attacks on the police and military in northern Sinai has intensified since the July 3 ouster of President Mohammed Morsi from power, but assaults have largely been confined to desolate desert areas of the region.

Sunday’s assault was significant in that it struck in the heart of el-Arish and killed a 32-year-old man driving his car in the most populated city in northern Sinai, which is also its provincial capital. The city is home to about 150,000 people.

For militants in Sinai, however, restoring Morsi is not the priority — they have said their goal is to drive out the military and the authority of the central government in order to create an “Islamic Emirate.” Morsi’s ouster by the military, though, took away a leader seen as reining in security crackdowns.

The attacks Sunday highlighted the security crisis Egypt’s military-backed interim leaders face in restoring stability after more than two years of turmoil since the popular uprising that toppled longtime President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

The northern part of Sinai has been the most lawless corner of the country since then. Police stations have been torched and security forces kicked out of tribal areas, where they were notorious for abuses against the powerful tribes of the region.

In the nighttime attacks Sunday, security officials said militants fired automatic weapons at a police club, a police station and a security post outside a bank in the center of el-Arish.

A 25-year-old woman walking in the street near the bank was struck by a bullet and seriously wounded. A soldier outside the bank was killed in the clash, officials said. The bank is on a main square in el-Arish.

Officials said a gun battle raged for several minutes between militants and security forces at the police station. A male driver was killed outside the station when a bullet hit him.

Also at night, a police camp in the city of Rafah on the Egypt-Gaza border came under attack by militants, who fired rocket-propelled grenades at the building, wounding four civilians and six soldiers protecting the site.

Earlier in the day, three policemen were killed by sniper fire in another coordinated attack while guarding an administrative building, a TV station and the police station in el-Arish, according to a security official. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.

Sunday’s deaths push to 14 the number of policemen and soldiers killed in Sinai since Morsi’s ouster. At least four civilians have been killed, including one woman and two Christians.

Also, a Christian ambulance worker was stabbed and wounded Sunday in northern Sinai when a man spotted a tattoo of a cross on his wrist, a trademark of many Coptic Christians in Egypt, security officials said.

In Cairo, military-backed civilian leaders forged ahead with a fast-track transition plan aimed at bringing the country back to democratic rule.

A panel tasked with amending Egypt’s constitution began its work Sunday in the face of opposition from Morsi’s supporters who denounce the military coup that overthrew the Islamist leader and reject the new political order that has replaced him.

The new 10-member-panel of legal experts and senior judges met for the first time to begin drawing up proposed amendments to the constitution. The panel has 30 days to do so. A second 50-member committee then will have 60 days to review those amendments before citizens vote on the new constitution in a referendum.

The drafting of the constitution that will be amended was one of the most divisive issues of Morsi’s one and only year in office.

His Muslim Brotherhood and their Islamist allies have vowed to stage daily rallies until he is reinstated, saying his ouster was unconstitutional. They rallied outside military buildings in Cairo and the southern cities of Luxor and Assiut on Sunday.

Protesters in Cairo took to the streets to also protest the deaths of three women killed by unidentified assailants at a Brotherhood rally in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura Friday. Egypt’s prosecutor general opened an investigation and top figures of the new leadership have condemned the killings.(Courtesy:The Times of Israel)