Egypt said on Tuesday that most of the suspects behind a string of bomb attacks in the Sinai peninsula have been arrested after a series of raids in the area.
”The intensive efforts exerted recently have led to the capture of most suspects and yielded details on the terrorist attacks in the Sinai,” an interior ministry statement said.
Security sources had announced on Monday the launch of a sweep in the peninsula involving about 3 000 men to track those behind the attacks, including a triple bombing in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh last month that killed about 70 people.
”At dawn, police launched an operation in Jabal Halal in the northern Sinai, aimed at capturing members of a terrorist group that played a major part in planning and carrying out the terrorist attacks in Sinai,” the ministry said.
However, it did not elaborate on the number of arrests or specify in which attacks the suspects were accused of involvement.
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 bombings rocked tourist-packed 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, including the border town of Taba.
Two Egyptians accused of taking part in the October bombings are currently on trial, while a third was killed earlier this month near the Suez Canal.
Security forces have carried out several raids in the mountainous Sinai region, rounding up thousands of Bedouin, many of whom have since complained of torture during their detention. — Sapa-AFP