Egyptian army bombards Sinai militants.

Egyptian army bombards Sinai militants.

BBC News | 07 Sep 2013 :: The Egyptian army has attacked militants in the Sinai peninsula using tanks and helicopters, killing or injuring at least 30 people.

Tanks, armoured vehicles and troops were deployed in towns along the border with the Gaza Strip, eyewitnesses say.

The operation is said to be the biggest of its kind in recent years in Sinai.

Elsewhere, soldiers discovered mortars and other explosives on a railway line near the Suez Canal, the state news agency reports.

There have been frequent attacks on pipelines and security forces since the uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

On Thursday a powerful explosion targeted Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim as he left his Cairo house for work. He survived unscathed, but officials say another person died.(Courtesy:BBC News)Read More>>>

Al Qaeda affiliate urges attacks on Egyptian army.

Al Qaeda affiliate urges attacks on Egyptian army.

DUBAI | Reuters | 31 Aug 2013 ::  One of al Qaeda's most militant affiliates has called on Egyptians to take up arms against their army, saying a bloody crackdown on Islamist protesters showed peaceful methods were futile, according to an Internet statement posted on Saturday.

Scores of Egyptian security forces have been killed in a series of attacks by suspected Islamist militants - mostly in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula - since Islamist President Mohamed Mursi was deposed last month.

Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood renounced violence decades ago and denies any links with militants, including those in Sinai who have gained strength since President Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down in 2011.

"There is nothing more right in God's religion (Islam) than those who speak of the infidelity, reneging on Islam and abandonment of religion, and call for the necessity to fight these armies, foremost of which is the Egyptian army," said Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, spokesman for the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), according to the Arabic recording.

"The Egyptian army is part and a mere copy of these armies which are seeking in a deadly effort to prevent God's laws from being adopted and trying hard to consecrate the principles of secularism and man-made laws," he said.

Mounting insecurity in Sinai worries the United States because the area is next to Israel and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, as well as the Suez Canal.

Adnani lashed out at the Brotherhood and the smaller, Salafist al-Nour party, saying they have been co-opted to non-violence and what he called the futile secular approach to power through elections and democracy, which he said had left Muslim Brotherhood members either in jail, dead or fugitives.(Courtesy:Reture)

Egypt army says 60 militants in Sinai killed.

Egypt army says 60 militants in Sinai killed.

More than 20 police and soldiers have also died in clashes in the month since the military coup that ousted Mohammed Morsi

Egyptian armored vehicles in Sinai (photo credit:
 screen capture AlJazeeraEnglish/YouTube

CAIRO | AP | 07 Aug 2013 ::  Egypt’s military spokesman says 60 militants have been killed and 103 arrested on the Sinai Peninsula as part of the army’s operations there over the past month.

Col. Ahmed Mohammed Ali released the figures Wednesday on his official Facebook page. He did not name any of suspects killed or detained.

The Facebook post said that authorities also destroyed 102 smuggling tunnels to the Palestinian Gaza Strip during this time.

The military’s figures could not be independently verified.

More than 20 policemen and soldiers have been killed in near daily clashes in Sinai since President Mohammed Morsi’s ouster July 3. About a dozen civilians have also been killed in violence there.

Emboldened militants have increased the frequency of their attacks on the army on the peninsula to exploit the political turmoil.(Courtesy:The Times of Israel)