Egyptian police killed in attack on Egyptian-Israeli border

[Morbius Sire]

Unidentified gunmen have attacked a checkpoint on the Egyptian-Israeli border, killing at least 15 Egyptian policemen, officials say.

Israel said the heavily armed attackers, in two vehicles, then tried to smash their way across the border.

One vehicle apparently blew up at the North Sinai crossing, while the other was destroyed by the Israeli air force.

It is not clear who carried out the raid. Egyptian state television blamed Islamist militants.

The country's state news agency quoted a top security official who said the gunmen were "jihadists" who had infiltrated from the Gaza Strip.

Israel's defence minister Ehud Barak said his country's security forces had "thwarted an attack that could have injured many".

"The militants' attack methods again raise the need for determined Egyptian action to enforce security and prevent terror in the Sinai," he said in a statement.

Egypt's President Mohammed Mursi held an emergency meeting with military and security officials after the attack.
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He condemned what he called a "cowardly" attack and said Egpyt would retake control of the Sinai.

"The [security] forces will take full control of these regions," the president said in a televised address.

Analysts say the security situation in the area has deteriorated following the fall of Hosni Mubarak last year.

In an earlier statement, he urged the authorities to take measures to "confront this serious challenge to Egyptian sovereignty and to protect Sinai from all armed groups".

At least seven other Egyptian policemen were wounded in the attack, security officials said. It is unclear how many militants were involved or how many were killed.
Security fears

Egyptian and Israeli forces say they are searching for any other gunmen who may have escaped. Israeli civilians in the area have been told to stay inside their homes.

The Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip has shut indefinitely, Egyptian state television says.

The attack on the border post close to Gaza and Israel took place around sunset, just as the guards had stopped work for the traditional iftar meal, which breaks the daily fast during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Masked gunmen dressed as bedouin opened fire on police with guns and rocket-propelled grenades before driving off with an armoured vehicle, Egyptian state television said.

In Israel a military spokeswoman said two vehicles had been taken at its Kerem Shalom crossing.

The BBC's Yolande Knell in Cairo says the attack will be seen as more worrying evidence that Islamist militants have a firm foothold in the restive Northern Sinai region.

They have been blamed for several rocket attacks against Israel and a cross-border raid that killed nine Israelis last year.

Recently there have also been repeated attacks on the pipeline that exports gas to Israel and Jordan. Last month two Egyptian soldiers were shot dead.

Egypt's military sent extra tanks and troops into the Sinai last year. The terms had to be agreed with Israel under the terms of the 1979 peace treaty between the two countries, our correspondent says.

Link For BBC article
And

Spoiler for Haaretz article, placed in spoilers to avoid a large post: 

Armed attackers from Sinai breached Israel's border last night in an armored personnel carrier stolen in a raid on an Egyptian police station that killed around 15 Egyptian policemen.

The Fahd APC was hit in an Israeli air strike, preventing what military officials said could have been a deadly large-scale terror attack. A second personnel carrier exploded at the Kerem Shalom border terminal, which connects Israel, Gaza and Egypt, before the vehicle could enter Israeli territory.

No Israelis were hurt in the incident, the IDF said.

"IDF forces, under the command of Maj. Gen. Tal Russo, and on the orders of Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, and with the assistance of the Shin Bet, showed alertness, sharpness and purposefulness, and prevented a terror attack that could have caused many casualties," said Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

"The way the attackers operated once again raises the necessity of resolute Egyptian action to impose security and prevent terror in Sinai."

Israel Defense Forces soldiers fired on an unclear number of attackers seen escaping from the site. Israelis living in the Kerem Shalom area were ordered to stay home and lock their doors, with the army fearing that the gunmen would try to abduct Israelis up to several hours after the APC incursion. They are being asked to pay attention to directives from the Home Front Command.

"As of now, we know of no terrorists still in the area," IDF spokeswoman Avital Leibovich said last night. "There are some Israeli communities nearby, and residents have been asked to stay in their homes."

Egyptian security sources said the attackers fired live ammunition at police officers at the station during the raid.

An Egyptian security official told the state news agency that some of the militants were from Sinai and some entered through underground tunnels from the Gaza Strip.

IDF spokesman Yoav Mordechai said the attackers may have been a global jihad group, but said the army had not positively identified the group to which they belonged. Mordechai said the IDF has been in contact with the Egyptian authorities, saying they "see eye to eye with us on what happened."

Immediately after the personnel carrier came through the border terminal, security forces set up roadblocks to keep the assailants off Route 232, the main road in the region.

Police in the area were bolstered by IDF soldiers and the air force "to prevent additional incidents in the area," said a military source.

As of press time, the IDF was continuing to search the area.

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi called for an urgent meeting with the country's military council after the attack, the Muslim Brotherhood's party said on its Facebook page.

The Counter-Terrorism Bureau urged Israeli tourists in Sinai last week to return to Israel immediately because terrorists were planning to abduct Israelis from the peninsula.

The government agency said it issued the warning because it had received new intelligence indicating that Gaza-based Palestinian terror groups and organizations linked to Al-Qaida in Sinai were planning imminent attacks on Israeli tourists there. While it has issued similar warnings several times in the past, many Israelis ignore them, pressing forward with plans to enjoy a relatively cheap beach vacation.

Hamas, meanwhile, condemned the killing of Egyptian police officers.

"Hamas condemns this ugly crime that killed a number of Egyptian soldiers and extends its deep condolences to the families of the victims and to the leadership and the people of Egypt," the Islamist group said in a statement.

Dozens of rockets hit Negev after IAF strike

Palestinian militants fired dozens of rockets and mortar shells on the southern Negev last night. No significant injuries were reported.

In an Israeli air strike earlier yesterday, a militant riding a motorcycle in the Gaza city of Rafah was killed and a second was either wounded or killed.

The IDF said in a statement that the casualties were members of a global jihad organization. Mordechai said there was no connection between the air strike and the attempted terror attack later in the day.

The IDF and Shin Bet said they carried out the attack in which at least one member of the Salafi wing of the Popular Resistance Committees was killed. The committees are linked to the global jihad movement operating in the Gaza Strip and Sinai.

Israeli and Palestinian sources confirmed that Eyad Nadi Okel, 19, was killed in the strike. The IDF statement said Ahmed Sayid Ismayil, 22, was also killed, but Palestinian sources said he was wounded.

The IDF said Ismayil was involved in a June attack on the Gaza-Israel border in which an Israeli citizen was killed. The statement said he was planning another attack against Israeli targets, near the border between Egypt and Israel.

The strike came during a time of tense quiet along Israel's border with Gaza, one that is periodically interrupted by short bouts of fighting. Late last month, Gaza militants fired four rockets into southern Israel, with two landing near the desert town of Sderot. No injuries or damage were reported.

The other two exploded in an open area under the jurisdiction of the Eshkol Regional Council.

Link to Haaretz article


Great, now these extremists s are making things even worse for Gaza, and Egyptians who live near that region. At this point, I am thinking they're just hired mercs making things worse.
Nothing else could explain their retarded-ness..

[Glista]

Killing them at meal time. What a . And no they are not mercs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4RhF...layer_embedded

[Morbius Sire]

Hired by whom ?

Who knows? They're certainly not doing any good for the population that's living in that region.

Killing them at meal time. What a . And no they are not mercs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4RhF...layer_embedded

Perhaps mercs isn't the right word...however, their actions will probably lead to a sizable incursion to limit their activity, either from egypt or from israel. This won't end well, i believe.

[Tiberios]

Who knows? They're certainly not doing any good for the population that's living in that region.

When have militant Islamists, if the attack were perpetrated by those, ever done any good for the people living in the area they operate in?

[hellheaven1987]

Don't be too happy first.

Update: Muslim Brotherhood blames the attack on Mossad

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has accused the Israeli spy agency Mossad of being behind Sunday's attack on an Egyptian checkpoint on the border with Israel.

Israel's foreign ministry has dismissed the allegation as "nonsense".

The attack left 16 Egyptian security officers dead. Israeli forces say they killed at least five men they say were among the attackers.

Israeli and Egyptian officials have blamed the attack on Islamist militants.

A statement on the Muslim Brotherhood's website said the incident "can be attributed to the Mossad".

It said Israel had carried out the attack in an attempt to undermine the government of Egypt's Islamist President, Mohammed Mursi.

The allegation was echoed by Hamas, the Palestinian offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood that governs Gaza.

"Israel is responsible, one way or another, for this attack to embarrass Egypt's leadership and create new problems at the border in order to ruin efforts to end the [Israeli] siege of the Gaza Strip," the group's prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, was quoted saying by the Reuters news agency.

Source

I am not surprised.

[John ''True Grit'' Wayne]

Don't be too happy first.

Update: Muslim Brotherhood blames the attack on Mossad



Source

I am not surprised.

So when terrorists attack Israel gets the blame?
What about other attacks 3 attacks in the last year and the breakdown of law and order in the Sinai.
ISRAEL should take back the Sinai if Egypt cant control the terrorists.

Bloody assault blamed on extremists from the Gaza strip and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula
Attack was deadliest so far on Egyptian border troops, who are increasingly targeted by insurgents
Israeli's Intelligence Services claim they retaliated from the air after advance warning of a plot to abduct an Israeli soldier
Eight militants are reported to have died
Fresh fears raised over Egypt's weak control over the lawless Sinai region

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz22qo08VxY

[Morbius Sire]

When have militant Islamists, if the attack were perpetrated by those, ever done any good for the people living in the area they operate in?

Well, for starters, they could just avoid escalating the tense situation. Palestinian factions, at least in gaza, are fearful for a lack of a better word. [1]

I do realize their actions are, most likely, to test the new Egyptians government's tolerance and leniency, and to give Israel/Egypt a chance to strike Hamas if there's a strike against Iran. Afterall, the timing can't be coincidental...

Don't be too happy first.

Update: Muslim Brotherhood blames the attack on Mossad



Source

I am not surprised.

Though to be fair, the MB doesn't seem to agree with Egyptian officials, and Israeli intelligence : So could this be just a political rambling?

Israeli and Egyptian officials have blamed the attack on Islamist militants.

[John ''True Grit'' Wayne]

At this point, I am thinking they're just hired mercs making things worse.

Hired by whom ?

[Celsius]

I hate to say it, but maybe things like this are for the best. A few more of these attacks and then BAM! Egypt & Israel stop any bickering they have and focus on the 3rd party.

I'm sorry people died in the incident, but when you look at it from a broad prospective, this could be helpful in terms of relations. But knowing a definite identity on the assailants would have helped tremendously in crossing out Israeli/Egyptian involvement.

[nhytgbvfeco2]

Israel really needs a war with egypt right now, the muslim brotherhood is right.

[Vanoi]

Israel really needs a war with egypt right now, the muslim brotherhood is right.

Will never happened.

[nhytgbvfeco2]

wut?

[Vanoi]

wut?

You heard me. An Egyptian-Israeli war will never happen.

[nhytgbvfeco2]

Oh yes it will! and the world shall burst in flames!

[hellheaven1987]

Actually, there is no evidence suggesting Hamas involves this attack (not to mention Hamas already denies its involvement), and Hamas is not the only Islamist organization in that region.

[nhytgbvfeco2]

Actually, there is no evidence suggesting Hamas involves this attack (not to mention Hamas already denies its involvement), and Hamas is not the only Islamist organization in that region.

No one ever blamed hamas, the blame was on the islamic jihad organisation

[motiv-8]

Though to be fair, the MB doesn't seem to agree with Egyptian officials, and Israeli intelligence : So could this be just a political rambling?

Pretty much. President Morsi, supposedly the MB "plant", has already correctly identified the real issue with security in the Sinai and has begun to draw up plans to head off further instability and attacks. In fact this process already started under SCAF with additional men and material, what's clearly needed is additional intelligence and communication cross-border.

[Menelik_I]

The reaction to the attack doesn't say anything about Morsi and the MB, because Morsi himself is a muppet president and the SCAF is still in power as of yet. Morsi doesn't need to know or plan this kind of attacks, even the MB doesn't need to plan them, they just need to close their eyes at terrorist activities. Wether they will do that or not depends on whether they can take power from the SCAF or not, so we gonna have to wait and see.

The IDF should consider making a TV Channel aimed at the COD Demographic.

[B. W.]

The reaction to the attack doesn't say anything about Morsi and the MB, because Morsi himself is a muppet president and the SCAF is still in power as of yet. Morsi doesn't need to know or plan this kind of attacks, even the MB doesn't need to plan them, they just need to close their eyes at terrorist activities. Wether they will do that or not depends on whether they can take power from the SCAF or not, so we gonna have to wait and see.

The IDF should consider making a TV Channel aimed at the COD Demographic.

When I was training in the Army we had to take a shoulder fired LAW and shoot a target APC with it and it had just about the same effect.

[John ''True Grit'' Wayne]

That is how to wreck a truck well done IDF.
Surely if they wanted they could bribe Egypt soldiers who are not too fond of Israel anyhow and have a better operation/incursion.