JERUSALEM — Attacks in recent days suggest that provocateurs are trying to take advantage of the political turmoil in Cairo to spread unrest in the Sinai, the desert peninsula that lies between Israel and the main territory of Egypt.
On Monday, local news reports described a two-hour battle in the Egyptian half of the divided city of Rafah, on the border with the Gaza Strip. The reports said Egyptian security forces, with the help of local tribesmen, repelled attackers wielding rocket-propelled grenades. The attackers were identified as members of the Islamic group Takfir wal-Hijra.
In recent years, Israel has warned its citizens to avoid the Sinai Desert because of the threat of attacks or kidnapping by Islamic militants. Militants hostile to Israel as well as to Egyptian authorities and the West have bombed Sinai resorts.
Denver Post wire services
