Egyptian security forces launched a massive sweep of the Sinai peninsula on Monday to hunt down Bedouins suspected of involvement in recent attacks, security sources said.
About 3 000 men backed by armoured vehicles are involved in the vast operation, which kicked off at dawn near the northern town of Sheikh Zuayed and is expected to last several days, the sources said.
On Sunday, security forces arrested about 250 people during a raid targeting an explosives-smuggling ring in the town of Al-Arish on the Mediterranean coast, they added.
Two Canadian women peacekeepers were lightly wounded on August 15 in an area of the peninsula not far from the border with the Gaza Strip when a home-made bomb struck their vehicle.
On July 23, multiple suicide car bombs rocked the tourist-packed Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing about 70 people, in Egypt’s worst such attack to date.
On October 7 last year, similar simultaneous bombings killed at least 34 people, including several Israeli tourists, in resorts further north on the Red Sea coast.
The Egyptian security forces have carried out several raids in the mountainous Sinai region, rounding up thousands of Bedouins, many of whom have since complained of torture during their detention. — Sapa-AFP