Egyptian army vows to avenge killing of 16 guards

In Sunday’s attack, gunmen in Bedouin attire drove up to a border post and opened fire before crossing into the Jewish state in an armoured vehicle, Egyptian officials said. Israel said five gunmen were killed on its side.
The 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, under which Israel withdrew from the Sinai, which it had occupied in the 1967 Middle East war, set strict limits on Egyptian troop numbers in the peninsula.
But Israel has complained of growing lawlessness on its southern border since the overthrow of veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak early last year and called for action by Cairo.
“We swear in the name of God to avenge them,” the Egyptian army said in its statement yesterday.
“Egyptians will not have to wait long before they see a reaction to this attack by terrorists,” it said in the statement carried by the official MENA news agency.
“Anyone liaising with these groups that have attacked our troops in the Sinai in recent months will pay dearly, be it inside Egypt or abroad,” the Egyptian army said.
Meanwhile, Hamas said yesterday that its security forces in the Gaza Strip are on the alert after Egypt’s army vowed to avenge the killing of the 16 guards.
Egypt’s MENA news agency has said the gunmen were “jihadists” who “infiltrated from Gaza through tunnels” into the adjacent Sinai but Hamas has dismissed the idea that militants from inside their territory were involved.
“The national security services are on a 100-percent state of alert to maintain common security between the Gaza Strip and Egypt,” Jamal al-Jarrah, head of the Hamas security forces, wrote on the interior ministry website.
He accused Israel of encouraging speculation that Gaza Palestinians were involved in Sunday’s attack.
“The occupation is trying to spread its rumours and hold Gaza responsible for the attack, to cause tension in relations between the Palestinian and Egyptian peoples,” said Jarrah.
“We assert that we are working around the clock to maintain common security.”
The Hamas government in Gaza was due to meet later yesterday to discuss the situation.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, speaking from his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, condemned the attack.
“President Abbas, the Palestinian people and the Palestinian leadership condemn with the strongest of words this crime that was committed by the hands of a terrorist group,” his spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeineh said in a statement
“Despite its gravity, this crime will not undermine the depth of relations between the two peoples and the Palestinian and Egyptian leaderships,” he added.
“It will not affect Egypt’s national role in permanently committing to support our cause and our people’s struggle.” — AFP.