CAIRO — The Egyptian military launched airstrikes early Wednesday that authorities said were intended to target extremist militant cells that have taken root in the northern Sinai, near the Israeli border.
The rare aerial bombing on Egyptian soil came two days after armed militants in the Sinai killed 16 Egyptian security forces, broke through the border into Israel and tried, unsuccessfully, to launch a second attack there.
The crisis has emerged as a major test for Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, the country’s first Islamist head of state. Morsi is under heavy pressure to endorse a crushing crackdown on militants in the Sinai, but any missteps or abuses could trigger a backlash from Islamists, his main political base.
On Tuesday, Morsi stayed away from the military funeral for the 16 slain soldiers — a conspicuous absence for a leader whose thorny relationship with the military is being closely watched. Angry Egyptians heckled and tried to assault Prime Minister Hesham Kandil when he arrived for prayers before the funeral, prompting his security detail to whisk him out.
The airstrikes early Wednesday killed at least 20 suspected militants, state television reported. There was no independent corroboration of the claim, but witnesses confirmed hearing warplanes and loud blasts in the area overnight.
The strikes occurred amid reports of a new wave of attacks by suspected militants on checkpoints along the main road that connects Cairo and the Gaza Strip. State television reported that the military was hunting down militants in El Risa, El Khorouba, and the Beir Abd mountains, all sparsely populated areas.
The reported air strikes marked a sharp escalation of violence in an increasingly lawless area that has the potential to become a powder keg. The presence of security forces along the desert peninsula has thinned out during the past two years, as militant jihadists and Bedouin tribes have stockpiled heavy weapons. Some jihadists have vowed to beat back any heavy-handed attempt by security forces to assert control of the Sinai.
No group has taken credit for Sunday’s attack, in which a band of gunmen commandeered armored Egyptian military vehicles after killing the soldiers at an Egyptian checkpoint and used the vehicles to ram an Israeli border crossing. The attempted infiltration was thwarted by an Israeli air strike.
Mona Zamalot, an activist based in the nearby city of al-Arish who is involved in efforts to limit militancy and stop human smuggling, said the men who are believed to have carried out the attack use the slogan: “change wrong and evil with your own hand.” She said a close relative who is a senior military official told her overnight that the men “want victory or martyrdom.”
Zamalot said residents in Arish and other densely populated areas in the Sinai are worried that the gunmen will leave the wilderness and seek refuge in those relatively urban areas if the crackdown intensifies. “If the militants stay in the desert and mountains, they will fall,” she said. “They want to go into the cities.”
The rare aerial bombing on Egyptian soil came two days after armed militants in the Sinai killed 16 Egyptian security forces, broke through the border into Israel and tried, unsuccessfully, to launch a second attack there.
The crisis has emerged as a major test for Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, the country’s first Islamist head of state. Morsi is under heavy pressure to endorse a crushing crackdown on militants in the Sinai, but any missteps or abuses could trigger a backlash from Islamists, his main political base.
On Tuesday, Morsi stayed away from the military funeral for the 16 slain soldiers — a conspicuous absence for a leader whose thorny relationship with the military is being closely watched. Angry Egyptians heckled and tried to assault Prime Minister Hesham Kandil when he arrived for prayers before the funeral, prompting his security detail to whisk him out.
The airstrikes early Wednesday killed at least 20 suspected militants, state television reported. There was no independent corroboration of the claim, but witnesses confirmed hearing warplanes and loud blasts in the area overnight.
The strikes occurred amid reports of a new wave of attacks by suspected militants on checkpoints along the main road that connects Cairo and the Gaza Strip. State television reported that the military was hunting down militants in El Risa, El Khorouba, and the Beir Abd mountains, all sparsely populated areas.
The reported air strikes marked a sharp escalation of violence in an increasingly lawless area that has the potential to become a powder keg. The presence of security forces along the desert peninsula has thinned out during the past two years, as militant jihadists and Bedouin tribes have stockpiled heavy weapons. Some jihadists have vowed to beat back any heavy-handed attempt by security forces to assert control of the Sinai.
No group has taken credit for Sunday’s attack, in which a band of gunmen commandeered armored Egyptian military vehicles after killing the soldiers at an Egyptian checkpoint and used the vehicles to ram an Israeli border crossing. The attempted infiltration was thwarted by an Israeli air strike.
Mona Zamalot, an activist based in the nearby city of al-Arish who is involved in efforts to limit militancy and stop human smuggling, said the men who are believed to have carried out the attack use the slogan: “change wrong and evil with your own hand.” She said a close relative who is a senior military official told her overnight that the men “want victory or martyrdom.”
Zamalot said residents in Arish and other densely populated areas in the Sinai are worried that the gunmen will leave the wilderness and seek refuge in those relatively urban areas if the crackdown intensifies. “If the militants stay in the desert and mountains, they will fall,” she said. “They want to go into the cities.”