Terror attack on Suez Canal foiled, officials say

Authorities at the Suez Canal in Egypt said they dodged an attempted terror attack on the vital waterway Saturday.

The head of the Suez Canal Authority said a terrorist had tried to damage a Panama-flagged ship, but “failed completely.”

“One of the terrorist elements has carried out a failed attempt to affect the movement of ships in the Suez Canal by targeting one of the passing ships, Cosco Asia,” Mohab Memish said in a statement Saturday. He did not elaborate as to what the attack entailed.

Memish said the flow of goods through the canal had not been impeded by the attempt.

“The attempt failed completely and there was no damage to the ship or the containers it carried. The situation was dealt with strictly by the armed forces,” the statement read.

Earlier in the day, Egyptian forces arrested one of the top wanted militants in the Sinai, on suspicion of involvement in the killing of 25 off-duty policemen in the peninsula last month.

Adel Mohammed, also known as Adel Habara according to one official, had already been sentenced to death in absentia for killing soldiers in the Nile Delta last year. He is said to be linked to al-Qaeda.

In March, Egyptian daily al-Ahram reported that an Iranian plot to blow up an Israeli ship in the port had been foiled.

The canal, which links the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, is one of the most important in the world.

On Thursday, an Israeli ship needing repairs was denied permission to dock at the canal. Authorities said the container ship lacked the proper papers.