Cairo – Thousands of security troops have spread out across a mountain range in the northern Sinai in an increasingly violent hunt for terrorists after two high-ranking police officers were killed by a land mine, the worst such incident since the Islamic insurgency of the mid- 1990s, Egyptian security officials say.
A week ago, the Interior Ministry issued a statement saying it had captured, killed or identified all of those responsible for the suicide bombing attacks on resorts in Taba in October and Sharm el-Sheik in July.
But what was supposed to be a mopping-up operation, seeking a handful of suspects who were believed to be hiding in the caves and hideaways along Halal Mountain, turned into a national tragedy when the officers, Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Adel and Lt. Col. Omar Abdel Moneim, were killed last week, and the security forces temporarily withdrew, officials said. Other police officers were reported wounded in the week-long operation.
The timing could hardly be worse, as Egypt heads into the final week before its first multicandidate election for president. The authorities have hoped to focus international news media attention on their efforts to open the political system. When the officers were killed, the state’s prosecutor general barred local news organizations from writing about the investigation into the deaths, but the blackout failed to quiet interest.
By Monday, officials said thousands of security agents were back on the hunt, aided by armored vehicles and army mine sweepers searching for mines planted in the rugged terrain of the mountain range in the northern Sinai.