CAIRO, 29 August 2005 — Egyptian security forces made 10 more arrests yesterday in their investigation into a spate of deadly bombings that have rocked the Sinai peninsula over the past year, a security official told AFP.
“Security forces have launched a vast arrest campaign in Jabal Halal in the central Sinai peninsula in the course of which 10 men were detained,” he said.
“The 10 are currently being questioned to establish whether they participated in the attacks on Taba, Sharm El-Sheikh and Al-Gurah.” A firefight erupted before the men were arrested but there were no immediate reports of casualties, the official added.
He said 25 improvised bombs had been recovered from caches in the area’s sandy mountains. Around 150 people have been arrested over the past week in raids across the Sinai peninsula. Two elite police officers were killed in twin blasts in Jabal Halal Thursday as they searched for suspects in the deadly Sinai bombings. Two Canadian peacekeepers were lightly wounded when a homemade bomb struck their vehicle on Aug. 15 in an area of the peninsula not far from the border with the Gaza Strip.
On July 23, multiple suicide bombers struck the tourist-packed resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, killing some 70 people in Egypt’s worst ever such attack.
And on Oct. 7 last year, near simultaneous bombings killed at least 34 people, including several Israeli tourists, in resorts further north in the peninsula.
Meanwhile, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak continued his election campaign promising building land for the young and more investment in agriculture.
He starts with the ritual homage to the history of the town he is visiting and ends with the invocation “God preserve Egypt”.
Since the 19 days of campaigning began on Aug. 17, Mubarak has not answered a single question in public nor mentioned any of the nine candidates running against him.
