Posted on 07/01/2015 7:44:25 AM PDT by tcrlaf
Islamic State militants launched a wide-scale coordinated assault on several military checkpoints in Egypt's North Sinai on Wednesday in which 50 people were killed, security sources said, the largest attack yet in the insurgency-hit province.
Egyptian army F-16 jets and Apache helicopters strafed the region that lies within the Sinai Peninsula, a strategic area located between Israel, the Gaza Strip and the Suez Canal.
It was the second high-profile attack in Egypt this week. On Monday, the prosecutor-general was killed in a car bombing in Cairo.
The attacks raise questions about the government's ability to contain a Sinai-based insurgency that has already killed hundreds of police and soldiers.
Islamic State's Egyptian affiliate, Sinai Province, claimed responsibility for the Sinai attacks in a Twitter statement.
The army said five checkpoints were attacked by about 70 militants and that soldiers had destroyed three landcruisers fitted with anti-aircraft guns. Without giving a breakdown, the army spokesman said the death toll among soldiers and attackers had increased.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Twitter is all over the place with the numbers of killed and wounded, from a low of around 50 killed, to well over 100.
Al Jazeera English 4 hours ago
Israel has closed down its shared border crossings with Egypt as deadly Sinai clashes continue
Any word about American or MFO casulties?
Where did the militants get their weapons from??? /sarc
From SKY:
As many as 50 Egyptian soldiers have been killed in a wave of simultaneous attacks unleashed by Islamist militants, military officials say.
Security sources say 15 died when a car bomb exploded at a military post in North Sinai, one of five targeted along with a police station.
Witnesses report hearing blasts in Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah, with many residents fleeing their homes over fears of grenades.
Al Jazeera reported as many as 70 people were involved in the attacks.
Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say the militants also took soldiers captive and seized several armoured vehicles.
Ahram has a live blog of the attacks going. Seems to be winding down now, but a lot of soldiers and civilians killed, it seems.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/134218.aspx
This is big
What of the UN contingent stationed there? Surely includes US forces
And still the media in this country is obsessing over Donald Trump saying the truth.
Link to that twitter feed
Not a good time to be a western tourist at a Red Sea resort
I hope ISIS doesn't destroy St Catherine's Monastery
St. Catherine's Monastery (Sinai)
Originally founded by the Emperor St. Justinian the Great in 527, the monastery has weathered numerous changes in the history of the region, including the invasion of Islam, whose founder Mohammed himself guaranteed protection for the monastery. (The monastery still has possession of a written document from Mohammed to prove it.)
Ahram live updates
16:55 Reports from Sinai indicate that the atmosphere on the ground has cooled down as the army starts to regain control over the city of Sheikh Zuweid. The siege of the Shiekh Zuwaid police station by IS armed men was broken and the army’s air strikes left dozens of IS militants dead, according to sources in the city.
A military source confirmed to Al-Ahram Arabic news website that ongoing raids by the army against IS militants will continue throughout the rest of the day. The source also said that the military is using Apache helicopters to bomb terrorists sites.
The source also added that an emergency meeting of the entire military leadership has been in session at the central command room in Cairo to monitor the military operations in north Sinai against the militants.
Happy hunting, Egyptians!
Yes, I would have liked to have gone there once in my life
The key is to cut off their supply lines, starting with the elimination of their transshipping points (Yemen, Sudan, Djibouti, Eritrea) from their supplier, Iran, the same country supplying Hamas et al, Houthi, Boko Haram.
[and 85-90% of the world's Muslims are Sunni, IOW, Shiites kill twice as many per capita]
Rand Slams Congress for Funding Egypt's Generals: 'How Does Your Conscience Feel Now?'Sen. Rand Paul is hammering his fellow senators for keeping billions in financial aid flowing to Egypt's military -- even as Cairo's security forces massacre anti-government activists. [by "anti-government activists" is meant church-burning Christian-murdering jihadists][Posted on 08/15/2013 5:44:10 PM PDT by Hoodat]
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