Egypt troops deploy for Sinai raids

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Egypt troops deploy for Sinai raids

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Tanks and armoured vehicles were stationed in El-Arish, 40 kilometres from the Gaza Strip.

14 August,2011 05:47 am

Egyptian tanks were rolling into a town near Gazas border for an anticipated operation against militants who attacked a gas pipeline to Israel and police stations, security officials said.The officials said the tanks and more than 1,000 soldiers and policemen would try to restore order to a lawless section in the north of the Sinai peninsula, and then move southwards to a mountainous region where armed outlaws were hiding.Tanks and armoured vehicles were stationed in El-Arish, 40 kilometres from the Gaza Strip, where militants attacked police stations two weeks earlier, killing a military officer and three bystanders.The forces that have arrived will participate in several surprise raids to arrest wanted men and those who participated in the attack (on the police station) one security official said.They were also seeking militants behind five bombing attacks this year on a pipeline that exports gas to Israel.The operation will start in El-Arish, and then roll into the neighbouring Sheikh Zuweid, where authorities believe Islamist militants are hiding out, and the Rafah border town, the officials said.An interior ministry official said four armoured vehicles had already moved into Sheikh Zuweid, roughly 15 kilometres from the Gaza border.Witnesses told AFP tanks were also taking positions in the town and police were deploying for the first time since January, when the interior ministry largely collapsed amid a revolt that ousted president Hosni Mubarak.A police commander in Sheikh Zuweid told AFP the security forces would try to capture militants implicated in the attack on the police station in El-Arish.After combing the north, the operation, codenamed Eagle, would then extend to mountainous central Sinai, long a safe haven for Bedouin outlaws, officials said.These reinforcements have been sent to aid forces already stationed, to restore security, arrest those behind the El-Arish attacks and capture outlaws in the mountains, a senior security official said.He refused to say how they intended to storm the formidable mountain hideouts. This is a plan put together in coordination with the military and it will succeed, he added.The officials declined to give a precise number for the troops involved. A 1979 peace agreement with neighbouring Israel limits the number of Egyptian soldiers allowed in the peninsula.