Egyptians claim Mossad agents entered Sinai to assassinate terrorist

Israeli forces crossed into Sinai in order to assassinate a terror leader last week, Palestinian and Egyptian media reported Sunday.

Agents from Israel’s Mossad spy agency entered the peninsula to track down and kill a jihadi terrorist involved in killing Israelis, the Maan news agency reported, citing Egyptian security officials.

According to the report, four agents crossed some 15 kilometers into Sinai for the operation, assisted by Bedouin trackers.

Egyptian daily Al-Ahram reported that the target was Ibrahim Ouda Bereikat, who was killed last week. Foreign media reports had Bereikat being killed by a blast near the border with Israel on August 26.

Bereikat is believed to have been involved in an August 2011 terror attack near the Egyptian border that left eight Israelis dead, Haaretz reported.

According to Al-Ahram, the Mossad agents ventured into Sinai twice for the operation.

The peninsula has been roiled over the past several weeks by an Egyptian anti-terror operation touched off by an August 5 attack in which 16 Egyptian border policemen were killed. Israel, which has come under fire from Sinai-based terrorists several times in the past year, has generally welcomed the move, though it expressed worries over the movement of heavy fighting equipment into the demilitarized area.

Israel relinquished the Sinai peninsula to Egypt as part of the 1979 peace accords.

In August, the Associated Press reported that human rights groups were claiming Israeli forces had entered the Sinai to intercept African migrants heading for Israel.