Egypt has declared a state of emergency in Sinai due to intelligence about a possible jihadist attack against police, the country's state news agency reports.
"The minister of the interior has raised the level of
emergency in North and South Sinai after receiving information that
jihadist groups intend to attack police buildings there,"
Reuters cited MENA’s quote from Interior Ministry official General
Osama Ismail.
Military commanders have ordered troops to be on "high alert"
following the information, which Armed Forces got from its own
intelligence, Egypt Independent reports.
“The Armed Forces received information about the intention of
some elements to conduct terrorist attacks in Sinai against the
army and the police,” Egypt’s leading private daily newspaper
quoted an unnamed source.
The deputy minister of the interior in Sinai has confirmed the
state of emergency was declared, saying that they also received
information about plots by Jihadist groups to attack security
targets, the newspaper reported.
Several military units have reportedly been deployed in the
highways of the peninsula and additional checkpoints set up. The
border patrolling forces on the Gaza and Israel borders have also
intensified their efforts.
Disorder has spread in Sinai following the uprising in Egypt in 2011 which ousted long-ruling President Hosni Mubarak with Islamist militants stepping up attacks on Egyptian security forces and the Israeli border.
Last August, the Sinai border region saw its deadliest incident
in decades after Islamist militant gunmen killed at least 15
Egyptian policemen in an assault on a police station at
Israeli-Egyptian border. They seized two military vehicles and
attempted to storm the border.