Egypt seizes anti-aircraft missiles in Sinai
Army spokesman says over 300 arrested since start of military operations in July
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleGavriel Fiske is a reporter at The Times of Israel
Egyptian military forces have captured a cache of anti-aircraft missiles in the Sinai Peninsula, as well as a collection of Egyptian army uniforms that were used by members of the Hamas terror group, an army spokesman said Sunday.
Since the advent of a large-scale military operation in Sinai after the July ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, the army has captured 309 people involved in violence and has destroyed more than 154 smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Egypt, army spokesman Ahmed Ali said Sunday, according to Al-Arabiya.
The national security of Egypt is “under threat because of the situation in Sinai,” the spokesman said, adding that the army would “continue operations in Sinai until terrorism is defeated.”
The interim government has a development plan for the peninsula that will restore security for Sinai, Ali said.
On Saturday, the military said it had uncovered a plot to blow up an army base on the Egyptian side of the border, via a detonating wire leading back through a tunnel to Gaza.
Since September 7, the army has been stepping up its assault on Islamist elements in Sinai, killing at least 29. On Friday, helicopter gunships targeted a number of villages in northern Sinai.
On Wednesday, a pair of suicide bombers rammed explosives-laden cars into military targets at the Gaza border, killing at least nine soldiers and wounding 17.
The Times of Israel Community.