Police at Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula have been attacked about 50 times by Palestinian armed groups and a local branch of al-Qaeda since the Jan. 25 uprising that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak, an Egyptian daily reported citing a security source.
Certain areas, such as Sheikh Zuwayed, central Sinai and Rafah were now outside the control of security forces, Egypt’s al-Masry al-Youm quoted the source as saying.
The attacks, which were mainly focused on the mountains of central Sinai, were carried out by the Palestinian armed groups Jaljalat, Army of Islam, Ezz Eddin al-Qassam Brigades and al-Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula, the source said.
According to the report published by al-Masry al-Youm, the assaults included 16 attacks on security checkpoints, three attacks on the second police station in the North Sinai capital of Arish, over 30 attacks on a Central Security Forces station, and four attacks on other Sinai police stations.
Members of the Palestinian armed groups usually have access to Sinai illegally.
“Sinai is now out of security control, and efforts exerted by the military and police forces have aimed to restore security, especially because a week ago Israel said Egypt is more dangerous to Israel than Iran, which the Jewish state accuses of trying to build nuclear weapons,” the security source told al-Masr al-Youm.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/05/02/211663.html
