Terrorists Killed More Egyptian Policemen, Soldiers in Sinai

 

CAIRO,(ST)_  One Egyptian policeman was killed last night as a result of  heavy fire from gunmen in the surrounding of the National Bank in El Arish   targeted guard crews of several government buildings.

Al-Ahram Portal site  quoted security sources as saying that “one soldier in the armed forces was killed in an armed attack against  guards of the new National Bank of El-Arish,” while medical sources said that “soldier was killed by a gunshot wound in the  right side of his body.”

Islam Faroz a witness, said that  ” gunmen opened fire a building under construction on the tower control of the new  National Bank and killed the soldier guarding it ,noting that “the army checkpoint clashed with insurgents for about half an hour.”

Other witnesses confirmed that the Apache helicopters of the Egyptian army pursue the  militants across the coastal town of El Arish, about 45 kilometers from the border with Gaza Strip.

However, violence continued in the lawless Sinai peninsula, where three members of Egypt’s security forces were killed on Sunday by armed men – the latest in a string of attacks blamed on Islamist militants opposed to the army.

AL-Masry al-Youm site  said that three police conscripts were killed in three separate attacks by gunmen in the North Sinai town of Arish on Sunday.

The officers were killed during attacks on a government facility and two police stations.

A security source in North Sinai said the first attack was carried out by masked gunmen on the Administrative Control building located behind a police station, killing 28-year-old conscript Islam Mohamed al-Sayed, who was shot in the head

The second attack took place at the same time on another police station, killing Ayman Hassan Mohamed, 40, who was shot in the chest.

The third attack was on the Radio and Television building, killing Fadi Ali Montasser with a shot in the neck.

A panel of legal experts started work on Sunday to revise Egypt’s Islamist-tinged constitution, a vital first step on the road to fresh elections ordered by the army following its removal of Mohamed Mursi as president.

Setting a highly ambitious timeframe, the military wants new elections in around six months and has tasked a panel of 10 legal experts to present proposed changes to the constitution within 30 days for review before a broader-based body, according to Reuters

The original constitution was approved by a referendum last year, but critics said the text failed to protect human rights, minorities and social justice.

Ali Awad Saleh, a judge and the constitutional affairs adviser for the newly installed president, chaired Sunday’s panel, saying it would spend the next week receiving ideas from “citizens, political parties, and all sides”.

Khaled Dawoud, a spokesman for the National Salvation Front, Egypt’s main secular political alliance, called the start of the committee’s work “a very positive development”.

The Muslim Brotherhood has shown no sign it is ready to engage with the new administration or the army, sticking firmly to its demand for the full restoration of Mursi, who has been held in an undisclosed location since his downfall on July 3.

Army and judiciary sources denied a report in state-run Al-Ahram newspaper’s early Monday edition that the public prosecutor had ordered the arrest of Mursi for 15 days pending an investigation into charges of spying and inciting violence.

A few thousand women, children and men marched from the site of a round-the-clock, pro-Mursi vigil in a Cairo suburb on Sunday, moving to within sight of the defense ministry, ringed by barbed wire and protected by well-armed soldiers.

More than 100 people have died in violent clashes this month, including three women taking part in a pro-Mursi rally in the Nile Delta town of Mansoura on Friday.

Moreover,  the Egyptian military has said the new constitution should be put to a referendum before planned parliamentary elections.

“The problem is not amending or drafting the constitution, the problem is deciding the direction the country is headed,” Reuters quoted Zaid Al-Ali of International IDEA, a Stockholm-based intergovernmental organization.

“Unless political agreement is reached between all of the major political actors in the country, we are going to head from one crisis to another,” he said.

Despite the continued domestic tensions, the new government is trying to show the world that business is returning to normal in Cairo. On Sunday, the cabinet held its first meeting since being sworn into office last week.

“The people need to be informed candidly about the size of Egypt’s problems, which require quick and decisive action,” said a statement issued at the end of the gathering.

Egypt’s central bank said on Sunday it had received $2 billion in funds from Saudi Arabia, the latest installment of a $12 billion aid package pledged by Gulf Arab states.

The Egyptian stock exchange rose to a seven-week high on Sunday, encouraged by a lack of violence at weekend “anti-coup” protests in Cairo, hoping it indicated tensions are calming.

 

T. Fateh