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Terrorist activities have escalated in Egypt over the past few days and the authorities have been intensifying security presence and conducting massive anti- terrorism campaigns in various provinces across the country.
On Thursday, five security men were killed in two ambushes in Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid cities in North Sinai, according to a security source who told Xinhua that the five included two policemen and three soldiers.
"The perpetrators belong to Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis ( ABM) group that has recently sworn allegiance with the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq and Syria," said the source.
On the other hand, 16 passengers were injured Thursday in a stampede out of panic after a bomb went off at one of Cairo's underground metro stations.
The accidents came one day after four boats opened fire at a naval motor boat near Damietta seaport, 150 km north of the capital Cairo, injuring five naval men while eight others are still missing.
Military spokesman Mohamed Samir said in a statement Wednesday evening that the attacking boats were destroyed, some of "the terrorist elements on board" were killed and 32 of the attackers were arrested.
Egypt has been facing a rising wave of terrorism since the ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi by the military in July, 2013 following mass protests against his one-year rule.
The following crackdown on Morsi's supporters has left about 1, 000 killed and thousands more arrested. Anti-government attacks have since extended from the Sinai Peninsula to Cairo and other provinces across the country.
In late October, a blast targeted a big military checkpoint in North Sinai's Sheikh Zuweid city, leaving more than 30 soldiers killed and tens of others injured. Egypt announced a three-month curfew and a state of emergency in some parts of North Sinai in response to such attacks, most of which are claimed by the ABM.
Many experts relate the qualitative change in terrorist activities in Egypt to the ABM's recent announcement of swearing allegiance to the regional IS group and its leader Abu Bakr al- Baghdadi.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian authorities deployed security forces around vital institutions and main roads nationwide and arrested dozens of suspects over connections with terrorist groups.
During security raids on extremists' hideouts in North Sinai, Ismailia, Part Said and Daqahliya provinces, "our forces managed on Wednesday to arrest 26 terrorist and criminal elements including ABM leading member Awwad Radwan," said the military spokesman.
In Sharqiya province, some 65 km north of Cairo, the prosecution ordered on Thursday to refer 12 suspect extremists to criminal court over charges including "forming a terrorist cell linked to the IS."
They have also been charged with committing and inciting violent acts, receiving foreign funds to finance terrorism and harm national unity and social peace, and working on recruiting young men for guerrilla war training.
Also on Thursday, but outside Egypt, a car bomb went off near the Egyptian embassy in the Libyan capital Tripoli in the early morning and no casualties were reported.
"Egypt strongly condemns the terrorist blast outside the Egyptian embassy in Tripoli," said the Egyptian Foreign Ministry in a statement Thursday, slamming the act as "a blatant violation of international laws and norms" that harms the historical relations between Egypt and Libya.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi warned on Thursday against "the serious consequences" of the delay in reaching a settlement for the Libyan crisis. Sisi's remarks came after talks with Algerian Prime Minister Abdel-Malek Sellal in Cairo according to presidential spokesman Alaa Youssef. Enditem
