Egypt’s ambassador to PA blasts Hamas over Sinai attack

Egypt’s ambassador to the Palestinian Authority has blasted the Hamas administration in Gaza for failing to condemn a Wednesday car bomb attack in northern Sinai that left 11 Egyptian soldiers dead.

Speaking to an Egyptian news agency on Thursday, Ambassador Yasser Othman noted that unlike Hamas, the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah had issued a condemnation of the bombing, Israel Radio reported.

On Wednesday, a car bomb tore through a bus carrying off-duty army soldiers in the turbulent northern Sinai region, killing 11, security officials said.

Reuters, also citing a security official, put the number of injured at 35.

The officials said the car bomb struck the bus on the road between the border town of Rafah and the coastal city of el-Arish. The soldiers belonged to the 2nd Field Army, which is involved in most of the fighting against Islamist groups operating in Sinai.

The bus was on its way to Cairo, the officials said.

Egypt’s police and army forces have been battling a burgeoning insurgency in the Sinai peninsula since the July 3 military coup that toppled president Mohammed Morsi.