Egyptian army and Sinai extremist confrontations continue

Egyptian military vehicles are seen near the entrance of Al-Arish city Cairo – Akram Ali Senior military officials in the Egyptian Second Field Army confirmed reports that purging operations in Sinai against militants are ongoing. Nearly 45 militant spots were located and will be confronted using

tank shells and air attacks within the coming hours.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity said: \"al-Halal Mountain in mid Sinai has been completely surrounded to isolate armed militants inhabiting the area from other regions and to prevent any provisions for militants to strike with.
Armed forces increased the number of guards and soldiers in Sinai check points to confront any likely clashes with militants who continuously attacked the checkpoints Since Wednesday August 8.
The source clarified the number of checkpoints will be increased for all the Sinai gates, saying: “attacking checkpoints is an attempt by militants to distract the efforts of the army in striking criminal spots in Sinai. But the Armed forces is aware of this, and will continue operations which started following the Rafah incident.\"
On the ground, militants killed a senior leader, Khalaf Al-Maneei, of the main tribe al-Sawarka and his son in the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula early Monday.
A security source in Sinai said: “extremists killed Sheikh Al-Maneei and his son on their way back from a conference organised by tribe leaders to condemn extremism, and support the government in their attempts to impose security and counter terrorists in Sinai.”
The murder of Al-Maneei and his son came as violence rises for the sixth day of a military campaign against what authorities describe as extremists and Islamic militants in the region.It is considered the largest operation of its kind since the 1967 war with Israel.
An official in the multinational forces observing the implementation of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty, Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) denied reports appearing yesterday  by saying an attack didn’t hit a communication point for the international forces, and no one among peace keeping troops was killed in Sinai.
Catheline Raily, MFO representative in Cairo said that “we did not face any shooting. There was shooting on a checkpoint for the Egyptian Army and police not far [from the communication point]. We could hear the gunshots but our men did not face any attack”.
This came in response to a previous statement by a security source in Sinai mentioning that militants opened fire on the multinational forces in Sinai.
20 US officers from the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) in Sinai left Egypt and headed home at the end of their term. This comes within the regular exchange process as a number of US officers started duty last week to relieve the departing ones.
An official at Cairo Airport told Arabstoday: “this group is the second to leave Sinai and head to the US, as 11 American soldiers left Saturday and the second group arrived in Sinai to start their duty”.
The US participates in the multinational peacekeeping forces with 11 other countries in the mission which started in 1981 following the signing of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel in 1979.
The headquarters of the MFO, made up of nearly 1,800 soldiers is in Rome, with two regional offices in Cairo and Tel Aviv while the forces carry out their duty of observing and patrolling along the Egypt-Israel border in Sinai.

Senior military sources revealed American-Egyptian cooperation in clearing Sinai of extremist groups with the US supporting Egypt with a number of logistical weapons and special equipment in order to clear Sinai from hotspots.

 The source said to Arabstoday: \"Egypt refused military cooperation with Washington in the last period in order to maintain Egyptian sovereignty but the recent situation obliged Egypt to look for  after its higher interests, accepting American cooperation and support to eliminate terrorism and extremism in Sinai.\"

 The second field army commander, Major General Ahmed Mahmoud Wasfy said: \"military operations are continuous in Sinai in order to completely eliminate terrorist spots,\"he mentioned that the Egyptian military and the second field military will continue sending supplies consisting of troops, weapons and equipment in order to take revenge for Egyptian soldiers and civil police members who were betrayed in Sinai\".

 The leader of the second field military declared that the coming hours will witness intensive military operations in Sinai targeting new hotspots.

 South Sinai governor Khalid Foda said that \"they had agreed with tribal and Bedouin leaders to keep security as they had agreed after the 1971 conflict with Israel. It will be difficult to clear mountain roads especially the Wateer Valley area which is anticipating infiltration by outlaw elements\".

 The governor asked the security director during his tour of Sinai to let Bedouin youth join the interior ministry in positions in security  and organisation based on the ministry\'s terms and conditions including age and literacy.