Israeli official heads to Cairo over Sinai security

As the Egyptian army continues a punishing crackdown on Islamists in the Sinai Peninsula, an Israeli official reportedly traveled to Cairo for discussions on coordination of security matters.

The official’s visit, which was reported by Egyptian state media but remained unverified by Israeli authorities, was the second of its kind to be reported in less than a month.

No specifics about the visit were available.

Some 30 militants have been killed in army operations over the last several days. On Wednesday a pair of suicide bombers rammed their explosives-laden cars into military targets, killing at least nine soldiers and wounding 17 people, security officials and a military spokesman said.

In late August, Jordanian newspaper Addustour reported that a top Israeli security official met with a number of Egyptian counterparts in Cairo, presumably in order to discuss the Egyptian military’s clampdown on jihadist militants in the Sinai.

Sinai has long been considered a haven for jihadist fighters who used it as a base for terror activity against Israel and Egypt. Since the forceful removal of President Mohammed Morsi in a July 3 military coup, attacks by Islamic militants in the peninsula have surged. Morsi, Egyptian military officials have asserted, had largely turned a blind eye to terrorist activity in the area.

Ties between Israel and the Egyptian military have tightened since Morsi’s ouster, over both countries’ shared interests with regard to halting terrorist attacks launched from the peninsula.

Israel hopes to ensure continued peace and to limit infiltration attempts of terrorists into the country, while Egypt seeks Israel’s approval to operate within Sinai, an area which has been designated a demilitarized zone since the signing of the 1979 peace accords.

Violence in the Sinai has been spilling over into Israel in recent years. On August 9, Israel briefly shut down the main airport in the Red Sea resort city of Eilat, which sits close to the Egyptian border, out of fear of an attack from the Sinai. A rocket attack the following week was aimed at the city, but the projectile was intercepted by an Iron Dome battery.

No injuries were reported in either case.

Asher Zeiger and The Associated Press contributed to this report