Updated 1 hour ago
The military spokesman for the Egyptian army said that an armed attack targeted a water lifting station east of the Suez Canal, killing an officer and 10 recruits and wounding five others.
Colonel Arkan Harb Gharib Abdel Hafez, a military spokesman, added, Statement On Twitter, the forces succeeded in thwarting a “terrorist attack” on one of the water pumping stations in Sinai, east of the Suez Canal, and that they clashed with “Takfiri elements”.
The statement stated that terrorist elements are being hunted down and besieged in one of the isolated areas in Sinai.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said, “The treacherous terrorist operations will not undermine the determination and determination of the people of this country and its armed forces to complete uprooting the roots of terrorism.”
The army and police forces raised the state of alert in Sinai, to secure and protect important installations, especially since the attack targeted a water-raising station, not a military facility or army and police points, as was customary, according to local media.
The Egyptian Cabinet mourned the victims of the attack, and stressed, in a statement, “the determination of the Egyptian state to complete the process of construction and development,” and to continue “the battle of dignity that the nation and its loyal sons are waging once morest the forces of evil and the tails of terrorism and extremism,” according to what was stated in the statement.
Al-Azhar condemned the attack, stressing in a statement that the Egyptians stood united with the officers and soldiers of the Egyptian army and police in the war once morest “malignant” terrorism.
The Sinai Province group, which is affiliated with the so-called Islamic State, has been active in the region for years.
Its attacks resulted in hundreds of deaths and injuries in the ranks of the army and police.
Armed operations have escalated in Egypt since the army ousted former President Mohamed Morsi, who belongs to the Brotherhood, following popular demonstrations in 2013.
Egypt introduced heavy weapons and army battalions into Sinai, for the first time since the signing of the peace treaty with Israel at Camp David in 1978. In February 2018, the Egyptian army announced a massive military operation in Sinai, dubbed (The Comprehensive Operation Sinai 2018).
The Egyptian Armed Forces also assigned a new command to the forces in the east of the Canal in February 2018, with the aim of combating terrorism in the Sinai.
Arab condemnations of the attack continued, and a statement by the Jordanian Foreign Ministry indicated Jordan’s solidarity with Egypt in confronting this “cowardly” terrorist attack, as described in the statement.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the attack.
A statement by the Saudi Foreign Ministry stated that “the Kingdom affirms its full support for the Arab Republic of Egypt towards all that threatens its security and stability, and its appreciation of the role of the Egyptian Armed Forces in confronting such terrorist and sabotage acts,” according to what was stated in the statement.
