The terrorist was assaulted on saturday by members of a special forces unit in a store in the city of al-aryan. It is said to be to blame for the deaths of at least 42 soldiers and police officers. Since the fall of agyptian president husni mubarak two and a half years ago, the number of attacks on the peninsula bordering israel has risen sharply.
On sunday it also became known that terrorists tried to attack a ship in the suez canal. Saturday’s attack was thwarted at the last minute by security forces, it was claimed. Reports that a grenade had hit the ship and set fire to a container were not commented on by the interior ministry.
A military spokesman said that three suspects were arrested after the attack. They had fired at the ship with small arms, but no damage was done. The canal company’s transit fees are one of the country’s most important sources of income, along with tourism and remittances from agyptian guest workers.
A security official in the city of al-arisch declared that adel mohammed ibrahim, known as adel habara, had been arrested along with two other leaders of his terrorist group named ali suleiman and ahmed mesbah. According to the police, in order to follow the terrorists without attracting attention, the forces disguised themselves as bedouins and boarded a minibus cab. When they put the wanted in the shank fur colors, habara pulled out two hand grenades from his pockets, according to police. However, an officer was able to quickly throw him to the ground and hold him down.
Habara is blamed, among other things, for the murder of 26 police officers in the border town of rafah almost two weeks ago and for an attack in august 2012 in which 16 soldiers were killed in rafah. He is also suspected of having been involved in the planning of terrorist attacks on tourists in sharm el sheikh and taba. According to agyptian security officials, habara, who is from the village of abu kebir in al-sharkiyah province, has been in contact with the agyptian leader of the international al-qaeda terrorist network, eiman al-sawahiri.
Several islamist groups are active in the north of the sinai peninsula, which borders israel and the palastinian gaza strip. Not all of these groups are militants. Families whose houses had collapsed in recent weeks when security forces blew up smugglers’ tunnels demonstrated in the border town of rafah on sunday. The entrances to the tunnels that led to the palastinian gaza strip were in the houses of the families.