Egypt searching for 2 Sudanese suspected of planning suicide attacks
April 4, 2008 (EL-ARISH, Egypt) — Egyptian security forces launched a search late Friday for two Sudanese suspected of planning attacks against government installations and tourist resorts in the Sinai, an Egyptian security official said.
The suspects are believed to be driving in an explosives-laden Toyota pickup truck, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. The search began after urgent instructions from the Egyptian interior ministry to police offices across the Sinai Peninsula.
The official added that the police, including reinforcements sent to the area, have set up ambushes and were searching through main cities in the Sinai and recruited local Bedouin tribesmen to help search for the suspects. Bedouins are traditionally experts at navigating the desert and finding back ways to avoid checkpoints.
“Police forces have beefed up troops in all of Sinai, fearing possible attacks, particularly around big cities, towns and tourist sites,” the official said.
No other details were available, but residents in the town of el-Arish, some 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the Egyptian border with Gaza, and in other remote parts of the Sinai desert, reported seeing scores of policemen, setting up check points, stopping and searching cars on main roads and outside government buildings.
The Sinai has been the site of three major bomb attacks since 2004. The blasts in the resorts of Sharm el-Sheik, Taba and Dahab killed 125 people. The government blamed the attacks on a local Islamic militant group, apparently inspired by al-Qaida ideology.
(AP)