Top > World > 2005 > October > 2005-10-04

Egypt Gets Tough in Sinai

Dozens of big, green prisoner-transport vans lined the highway, rolling east from the Suez Canal into the desert dunes and crags of the Sinai Peninsula. In this land populated mostly by nomads and goats, police checkpoints dotted the roads. The foray of troops and police forces into Sinai in September represented the Egyptian government`s continuing response to the bombings of hotels, tourist camps, parking lots and marketplaces during the past year in Taba and Sharm el-Sheikh, two resort towns on Sinai`s Red Sea coast.

Egyptian authorities, in a reversal of their earlier assessment, say the car bomb attacks, though nine months apart, were the work of a single organization with roots in Sinai and in extremist Islamic ideology - but with no connections to worldwide terrorist networks. Officials say their investigation turned up no evidence of training in Afghanistan or Pakistan, no recruiting or logistics work in Muslim communities in Europe, no outside financing and no direct ties to al Qaeda or its leader, Osama bin Laden.

"The training was in Sinai, the vehicles used were stolen in Sinai, and the technology used is available in Sinai mines. We have not found any foreign involvement," said Gen. Ahmad Omar, spokesman for the Egyptian Interior Ministry. Ministry officials said that all the names of known suspects were relayed to foreign intelligence allies and Interpol and that none showed up on anyone`s lists.