Posted on 08/15/2005 3:44:43 AM PDT by Clive
EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) - An explosion wounded two Canadian members of the Multinational Force and Observers at an airport in northeast Sinai close to the Gaza Strip on Monday, said Egyptian security officials.
The explosion at about 8 a.m. badly damaged the vehicle in which the MFO members were leaving the airport, 15 kilometres from Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip, security officials in Rafah said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk. Senior security officials in Cairo said the two wounded were Canadian members of the MFO.
The spokesman for the Canadian Embassy in Cairo, Ulrich Shannon, said he could not confirm any casualties.
According to the MFO website, Canada's crew consists of 29 personnel members ranging in rank from corporal to colonel.
All Canadians are based at the North Camp in El Gorah, Sinai. The Canadian roles include providing air traffic control, training, and engineering services.
The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear. Egyptian security officials at the scene said it was caused either by a landmine or a bomb. But it was so powerful that it was heard in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian Authority officials told The Associated Press.
The Interior Ministry issued a statement saying a "limited explosion" went off, causing no casualties, as an MFO patrol passed on the main highway in el-Goura district about a kilometre from the force's base.
An official at the Multinational Force's offices in Cairo referred all questions to the unit's spokesman, who was not answering his cellphone.
The Multinational Force and Observers was created to help implement the 1979 Camp David peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. It comprises troops from the United States and a number of European nations who act as a peace monitoring force in the Sinai peninsula - the battlefield of three Arab-Israeli wars between 1956 and 1973.
Egypt is due to deploy forces along its border with Gaza to keep the frontier secure after Israel's withdrawal of Jewish settlers and troops from the Strip, which is beginning this week.
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But, but, I thought moslem freedom fighters only bombed us or the Israelis because of the Palestinian problem and our imperialistic foreign policy...Professer Chomsky said so!
MFO duty has been pretty safe (boring) over the years. Not counting the Gander crash, most have died in accidents.
But then to the MSN, a soldier who dies and the death can not be twisted into political points is only worth a short mention and placed deep in the back sections.
A great number of service memebers are killed each year in accidents that get hardly a mention in the local news.
Article says it was a limited explosion but the explosion was heard 15 km away, doesn't sound right.
Are you implying that the ice on the wings was deliberately placed?
No. The Gander crash was an accident but it was a big story in the news.
While the MSN moans about the soldiers killed in a few of the hot spots they gloss over and forget about the ones who die in the out of the way places.
Remember Kosovo? The war where no US troops were killed. I lost count of the deaths in there when they went over 22. The last group of three (?)was around Jan/Feb of last year when the Islamo-nut killed three MPs (?). I'd could dig out the background facts on the incident but don't have time right now.
I have a number of points in my thoughts on this issue but I'll boil them down.
1. The MSN only cares about military deaths when it can be used as a weapons against Republicans.
2. Training deaths and deaths in politically correct altercations are something to be hidden away.
Oh, well. Off my soap box.
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