Gunmen kill 16 Egypt border guards, enter Israel
EGYPT: Gunmen on Sunday killed 16 guards in Egypt near the
border with Israel before stealing two armoured vehicles and crossing
into the Jewish state where one vehicle was destroyed by a helicopter.
An Egyptian medical official said gunmen in Bedouin attire drove up
in two vehicles and opened fire on a checkpoint near the Karm Abu Salem
(Kerem Shalom in Hebrew) border crossing and opened fire. The health
ministry said 16 soldiers and border guards were killed, while a
security official said another seven were wounded.
The official MENA news agency said the gunmen were “jihadists” from
inside the Islamist Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
State television and MENA reported that Egypt was closing its Rafah
frontier crossing with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip “until further
notice”.
Rafah is the only crossing between Gaza and the outside world that is
not under Israeli control.
Speaking after an emergency meeting with military officials, the
interior minister and the intelligence chief, Egyptian President Mohamed
Morsi vowed to retake control of the Sinai after the attack.
“The (security) forces will take full control of these regions,”
Morsi said in a television address.
He had given “clear instructions” that Egypt must take “full control
of the Sinai”, after the security situation deteriorated markedly
following the ouster of longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak early last
year.
AFP |
