North Sinai violence flares again

09:23 10/08/2012 » Society

North Sinai violence flares again

Masked gunmen on motorbikes fired early Friday at a police station in North Sinai in the latest in a string of violent acts in the area, a police official who is not authorized to speak to the media told CNN.

No one was hurt and the gunmen fled, the official said.

Al Reissa had been the scene of an hours-long battle between militants and Egyptian security forces on Wednesday, when it was one of six locations targeted by masked gunmen in a coordinated series of attacks in North Sinai in which five security officers and a civilian were wounded, according to Gen. Ahmed Bakr, head of North Sinai security.

Egyptian Army Apache helicopters fired rockets Wednesday, resulting in numerous casualties, Bakr said. State-run Nile TV reported that the strikes killed at least 20 in the port town of El Arish.

CNN has not been able to confirm the number of deaths.

Friday's attack came within hours of a meeting between scores of Bedouin leaders and Egypt's newly appointed interior minister, Ahmed Gamal Al Din, over stopping the violence.

Al Din blamed the chaos on the tunnels between Egypt and Gaza, citing them as smuggling routes for terrorists and weapons.

The developments came after 16 Egyptian soldiers were killed and seven others were wounded Sunday, when assailants with semiautomatic weapons and hand grenades stole two armored vehicles from Egyptian forces and tried to enter Israel.

Hamas condemned Sunday's attack as an "ugly crime."

Source: Panorama.am

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