Egypt militants bomb gas pipeline to Jordan

Source : Al Akhbar English

Attackers in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula bombed a gas pipeline to Jordan on Sunday, witnesses said, amid a surge in attacks on police and soldiers since Islamist president Mohammed Mursi's ouster.

Witnesses told AFP the blast took place near the North Sinai provincial capital of El-Arish, scene of major disturbances since Mursi's overthrow by the military on Wednesday.

On Friday, armed Mursi supporters stormed the provincial headquarters, raising the black banner used by al-Qaeda-affiliated militants, an AFP correspondent reported.

A Jordanian government official confirmed that gas supplies to the energy-poor kingdom were cut.

"The gas supplies to Jordan stopped due to the attack," the official told state-run Petra news agency.

"The Egyptian authorities have informed us that they are currently evaluating the situation and the damage," he added without elaborating. Egyptian gas covers 80 percent of electricity generation in Jordan, which imports 95 percent of its energy needs.

But Sunday's bombing was the first reported in almost a year.

Five security officers were killed at their checkpoints in Sinai on Friday and four other checkpoints were attacked on Saturday.

A priest was killed at one checkpoint by a group of militants, according to security sources.

(AFP, Reuters)

Hamas arrests Salafists in Gaza

Source : The Daily

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: The Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers have arrested several radical Salafists, the Palestinian movement's interior ministry said on Thursday, two days after Israel carried out an air strike on a militant in the territory.

"The internal security apparatus has arrested fanatics calling themselves Salafists, for security and criminal reasons.

There were no arrests made for ideological or political reasons," a ministry statement said.

"Four of those arrested were taken in on suspicion of stealing rockets belonging to Hamas, and two others for causing an unspecified explosion that resulted in "human and material damage," it added, without giving a total number.

The Mujahedeen Shura Council (MSC) Salafist group, one of whose members was killed in the air strike on Gaza City on Tuesday, said the jihadists were being detained for ideological reasons.

Salafists in Gaza -- who are considered more hardline than the Islamist Hamas -- have challenged the movement both over confrontations with Israel and the practice of Islamic rule, prompting it to crack down on their militant activities.

The MSC implicitly denied stealing any rockets.

Israel's air force targeted Haitham al-Mishal as he rode his motorcycle in western Gaza City on Tuesday, it said in a statement.

Israel said Mishal was involved in an April 17 rocket attack launched from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, adjoining Gaza, which struck the Israeli Red Sea resort of Eilat causing no casualties.

The MSC has claimed a number of rocket attacks in the past few months, all except that of April 17 being launched from the Gaza Strip.

North Sinai’s police chief fired after Saturday’s attack

Source : Alarabiya

Aug. 5 attack - the deadliest in Sinai since Egypt’s 1973 war with Israel - prompted the government to send in hundreds of troops backed by tanks, armored vehicles and helicopters in a joint operation with police to raid militant hideouts. (Al Arabiya)

North Sinai police chief was sacked on Sunday after three policemen were killed by gunmen yesterday in the northern city of al-Arish.

The dismissal followed a meeting between the interior and defense minsters with the police protesters, who sieged the Security Directorate building late Saturday in response to the accident.

The minister of interior accepted the policemen’s calls of assigning General Samih Bashadi as North Sinai’s new police chief, replacing Major General Ahmad Bakr, according to an Egyptian news website.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s defense minister arrived in Sinai Sunday morning to review the security measures in the peninsula.

Both minsters met with Sinai’s police and military members, along with the peninsula’s tribal leaders, to convince police protesters to resume their job and have listed to their complains, the website reported.

On Saturday, a number of Egyptian policemen protested in front of North Sinai's Arish Security Directorate after gunmen attacked a police patrol and shot three officers earlier on the day.

The protesters later blocked the Arish-Rafah road as well as other critical roads in the peninsula, according to Egypt Independent.

Protesters said they have been left “without protection to face militants’ attacks,” reported the newspaper.

The demonstrating policemen left their locations and sieged the Security Directorate building.

The policemen blamed the country’s ministry of interior for not combating armed gangs in the peninsula, saying they are not allowed to take any action against gunmen without direct instructions from the ministry.

A group of revolutionary youth gathered in front the North Sinai governorate late on Saturday to support the police protest. The group called for firing the current governor and dismissing the minister of interior.

Militants suspected in Sinai’s Saturday attacks

A security source said on Saturday that the three policemen were probably attacked by militants who, Egyptian forces have been hunting since the ambush killing of 16 border guards on Aug. 5, the biggest security crackdown Sinai has seen in decades.

“Armed men who might belong to a jihadist group attacked a police vehicle and fired on its passengers before fleeing,” he told AFP.

Two policemen died at the scene of the attack on the suburbs of al-Arish, the administrative center of North Sinai, while one of the other two injured died at the hospital later after the attack, medical and security sources said.

The Aug. 5 attack - the deadliest in Sinai since Egypt’s 1973 war with Israel - prompted the government to send in hundreds of troops backed by tanks, armored vehicles and helicopters in a joint operation with police to raid militant hideouts, arrest suspects and seize weapons.

Efforts to impose central authority in the lawless desert region are complicated by the indigenous Bedouin population's ingrained hostility to the government in Cairo.