January 2015 Sinai attacks

Last updated
January 2015 Sinai Attacks
Part of Sinai insurgency
Date29 January 2015
Location
North Sinai
Belligerents

Flag of Egypt.svg  Egypt

AQMI Flag asymmetric.svg Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

Casualties and losses

44 killed
(24 soldiers, 6 policemen, 14 civilians) [1]

62+

Contents

[2] 		Unknown
Egypt Sinai location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Arish
Red pog.svg
Sheikh Zuweid
Red pog.svg
Rafah
class=notpageimage|
Location on the Sinai Peninsula of the three cities attacked in January 2015 by Wilayat Sinai.

On 29 January 2015, militants from the ISIL-affiliated Wilayat Sinai (Sinai Province) militant group launched a series of attacks on army and police bases in Arish using car bombs and mortars. [3] The attacks, which occurred in more than six different locations, resulted in 44 deaths. [1]

Attacks

Militants launched simultaneous assaults involving mortars and car bombs on security facilities in the North Sinai towns of El-Arish, Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah, targeting the army's Battalion 101 following the North Sinai curfew hours that began after 7 pm and ended at 6 am. [4] [2] In Al-Arish, police offices and an army base were the first targets hit, followed by a military-owned hotel which sustained heavy rocket attacks, then came the car bomb explosion at the rear gate of the army base. A number of security checkpoints were also hit later in the day, including one south of the city and one in Rafah. [5] [6] The Sheikh Zuweid attack involved the Al-Zohor military camp, which was hit by mortar shells. [2] Residents of the Sinai and the Egyptian state news media reported that the attackers had used multiple car bombs and mortars against their targets. [7]

Security response

Egyptian warplanes bombed militant targets in the region where the attacks took place. [8] The following day Apache helicopters also launched air raids on alleged militant spots. [9] It was also reported that on 6 February 2015 Egyptian security forces launched an attack, killing 47 Islamic militants in Northern Sinai. [10]

Casualties

44 people were killed overall. [1] Wilayat Sinai, however, released a statement where it said that "hundreds" were killed, a claim that was rejected by the military which said that the numbers will not be announced. [2] Estimates of the wounded range from 62 [6] to over a hundred. [11]

Most of the casualties were a result of the first attacks on the hotel and military base, [12] during which 25 people were killed, including nine civilians, and more than 58 were wounded. [13]

Damage

Parts of the Al-Arish National Museum, which holds numerous artifacts and paintings from ancient times, were destroyed during the bombings, including the main front and one of the sides of the building which later collapsed as a result. However, the head of the Museums Sector at the Ministry of State of Antiquities, Ahmad Sharaf, confirmed that none of the museum's antiques were harmed during the incident. [14]

Government newspaper Al-Ahram said that one of its offices, which is opposite to the hotel and base that were hit, was completely destroyed during the attacks. It is unclear, however, whether the office was a target of the assault or not. [15] [5]

Responsibility

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant linked militant group Wilayat Sinai, formerly known as Ansar Bait al-Maqdis until it pledged allegiance to ISIL in November 2014, [16] claimed responsibility for the attacks on an affiliated Twitter account. [17] Wilayat Sinai said that the incidents were part of a series of attacks that they had dubbed "We Swear We Will Revenge", which the group dedicated to "avenge for women and girls" held in government prisons. [2]

Reactions

Domestic

In response to the attacks, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who was attending the African Union summit in Ethiopia at the time, cut short his visit and returned to Egypt. Sisi ordered the establishment of a "unified command to combat terrorism" in the Sinai Peninsula and put Osama Askar, commander of the Third Field Army, in charge of the command after promoting him to lieutenant-general. Sisi's decree was announced by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). [18] During a meeting between Sisi and the SCAF, plans have been discussed to combat the "qualitative development of terrorist operations in Sinai," despite "the success of daily strong blows to terrorist hotbeds". After the meeting, Sisi made a live address to the nation, where he said: "I am ready to die [for Egypt]... and meet God for what I have done". He also hinted back at the period before the 2013 protests and ouster of Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, claiming he had spoken with a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood who allegedly told him that people would come "from all around the world" to fight him. [19]

International

The African Union, [20] Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, [21] United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council condemned the attacks, [22] along with the governments of Bahrain, [23] China, [24] Cyprus, Hungary, [20] Indonesia, [25] Iran, [26] Italy, [20] Jordan, [24] Kuwait, [27] Lebanon, [24] Morocco, [20] the Palestinian Authority, Russia, [24] Saudi Arabia, [23] Singapore, [28] Syria, [20] Tunisia, [24] the United Arab Emirates, [23] the United Kingdom [29] and the United States. [30]

Furthermore, Hassan Firouzabadi, top commander of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, said that the attackers were "helping the Zionist occupiers". "The Islamic forces are deployed in Sinai desert to prevent the Zionists’ aggression on Muslim territories, including the strategic Sinai Peninsula, and attacking them is a foolish act.", Firouzabadi said. [31]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2004 Sinai bombings</span>

The 2004 Sinai bombings were three bomb attacks targeting tourist hotels in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, on 7 October 2004. The attacks left 34 people dead and 171 injured.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terrorism in Egypt</span> List of terrorist attacks in Egypt from the 1940s to the present day

Terrorism in Egypt in the 20th and 21st centuries has targeted the Egyptian government officials, Egyptian police and Egyptian army members, tourists, Sufi Mosques and the Christian minority. Many attacks have been linked to Islamic extremism, and terrorism increased in the 1990s when the Islamist movement al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya targeted high-level political leaders and killed hundreds – including civilians – in its pursuit of implementing traditional Sharia law in Egypt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Eagle</span> 2011 Egyptian military campaign in the Sinai Peninsula against the Sinai Insurgency

Operation Eagle was an Egyptian military campaign in the Sinai Peninsula, that was launched in August 2011 to confront the Sinai insurgency. The campaign was aimed against Islamist insurgents, who had been attacking the Egyptian security forces in the Sinai and using the area as a base from which to attack Israel since early 2011. Successive Egyptian operation against insurgents in 2012, named Operation Sinai, was initially referred as the second part of Operation Eagle. It was the first in a number of campaigns to retake the Sinai from insurgents that lasts to this day.

Sheikh Zuweid is a Bedouin town in the North Sinai Governorate of Egypt near the border with the Gaza Strip. It is situated between the cities of Arish and Rafah and is 334 kilometers northeast of Cairo. It has a population of around 60,000 as of 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">August 2012 Sinai attack</span> 2012 attack on Egyptian and Israeli forces by insurgents in the Sinai Peninsula

The August 2012 Sinai attack occurred on 5 August 2012, when armed men ambushed an Egyptian military base in the Sinai Peninsula, killing 16 soldiers and stealing two armored cars, which they used to infiltrate into Israel. The attackers broke through the Kerem Shalom border crossing to Israel, where one of the vehicles exploded. They then engaged in a firefight with soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), during which six of the attackers were killed. No Israelis were injured.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sinai insurgency</span> Ongoing insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula

The Sinai insurgency is an ongoing insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, that was commenced by Islamist militants against Egyptian security forces, which have also included attacks on civilians. The insurgency began during the Egyptian Crisis, during which the longtime Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in the 2011 Egyptian revolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Sinai (2012)</span> Egyptian military campaign against the Sinai Insurgency (2012-present)

Operation Sinai is an ongoing Egyptian military campaign, launched in early August 2012, against Islamic militants within the Sinai Peninsula to crush the Sinai Insurgency. The operation came as a direct response to the 2012 Egyptian-Israeli border attack on 5 August 2012. The operation was initially reported as part of "Operation Nisr", but on 3 September 2012, the Egyptian army issued a statement requesting media sources to use the official name "Operation Sinai."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ansar Bait al-Maqdis</span> Defunct Egyptian jihadist militant group (2011-14)

Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, or Ansar Al-Quds, was a jihadist, extremist militant group based in Egypt.

On 24 October 2014, ISIL militants launched two attacks on Egyptian army positions in the Sinai Peninsula, killing at least 33 security personnel. This was one of the deadliest assaults on the Egyptian military in decades.

The following lists events that happened during 2015 in Egypt.

The following is a chronological timeline of fatal incidents during the ongoing Sinai insurgency, which was invigorated by a period of relative instability and political turmoil in Egypt, beginning with the 2011 uprising against former autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Insurgent attacks, however, intensified significantly following the July 2013 coup that ousted Muslim Brotherhood-backed president Mohamed Morsi and subsequent crackdown on his supporters.

On 1 July 2015, the IS-affiliated Sinai Province militant group launched the largest scale battle the Sinai Peninsula has seen since the 1973 Yom Kippur War, killing 21 soldiers in the numerous attacks which targeted multiple Egyptian army checkpoints and the Sheikh Zuweid police station in the Sinai Peninsula. More than 100 militants were reportedly killed by the army during the battle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Martyr's Right</span>

Operation Martyr's Right was a military operation conducted by the Egyptian Armed Forces in cooperation with the Egyptian National Police officers, aimed at rooting out and killing jihadist militants.

The Arish hotel bombing was a terrorist attack on a hotel in the coastal city of Al-Arish, Egypt, on 24 November 2015. A group of militants approached the heavily guarded hotel with a car bomb, but Egyptian security forces opened fire at the vehicle, blowing it up before it could reach the building. One of the two attackers managed to get inside the hotel, where a number of people were injured and killed as a result of gunfire and a subsequent suicide bombing. Authorities reported at least seven dead, including two judges who had been in Al-Arish to supervise the country's second round of parliamentary elections, held the day before. The Islamic State's Wilayat Sinai offshoot claimed responsibility in a statement released later the same day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of terrorism in Egypt (2013–present)</span> Islamist insurgency in Egypt

In July 2013, at the same time as mass protests began against the 3 July coup d'état which deposed Mohamed Morsi, and in parallel with the escalation of the already ongoing jihadist insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula, pro-Muslim Brotherhood militants started violent attacks against policemen and soldiers in Central and Western Egypt. In the following months, new Islamist armed groups were created to reinstate Islamist rule in Egypt, like Soldiers of Egypt and the Popular Resistance Movement. Since 2013, violence in mainland Egypt has escalated and developed into a low-level Islamist insurgency against the Egyptian government.

The Zliten truck bombing occurred on 7 January 2016, when Islamist militants detonated a truck bomb at the police training camp al-Jahfal in the coastal town of Zliten, Libya. Libyan authorities said at least 60 policemen were killed and over 200 were wounded. Concrete buildings inside the compound were charred from the blast and their windows blown out; nearby cars were turned into black and twisted metal wrecks. The head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, Martin Kobler, said the blast was a suicide attack.

Thirteen policemen and soldiers were killed on Saturday night March 20, 2016 in an attack that targeted a security checkpoint in Sinai's Al-Arish. The Ministry of Interior announced that a mortar attack targeted Al-Safa checkpoint, killing two police officers, a policeman and 10 soldiers.

The October 2016 Sinai attacks was a terrorist attack on an Egyptian army checkpoint in the city of Bir al-Abed, Egypt, on 14 October 2016. A group of militants armed with assault rifles and heavier weapons attacked an Egyptian army checkpoint while mortar rounds and rockets were fired directed to a military checkpoint. In response, the Egyptian military forces killed around 15 militants following the attack. The Islamic State's Wilayat Sinai branch claimed responsibility in a statement released later the same day.

At 1:50 PM EET on 24 November 2017, the al-Rawda mosque was attacked by roughly 40 gunmen during Friday prayers. The mosque is located in the village of Al-Rawda east of the town of Bir al-Abed in Egypt's North Sinai Governorate. It is one of the main mosques associated with the Jaririya Sufi order, one of the largest Sufi orders in North Sinai. The Jaririya order is named for its founder, Sheikh Eid Abu Jarir, who was a member of the Sawarka tribe and the Jarira clan. The Jarira clan resides in the vicinity of Bir al-Abed. The attack killed 311 people and injured at least 128, making it the deadliest attack in Egyptian history. It was the second-deadliest terrorist attack of 2017, after the Mogadishu bombings on 14 October. The attack was universally condemned by many world leaders and organizations.

The Rafah terror attack was a terrorist attack conducted by the Islamic State – Sinai Province on an Egyptian Armed Forces checkpoint in Rafah in North Sinai on 7th July 2017 and resulted in the death and injury of 23 Egyptian soldiers, including the high-ranking El-Sa'ka officer, Col. Ahmed Mansi. 46 terrorists were killed and six cars of the militants were destroyed in the attack.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Security imperatives in Sinai". Al-Ahram Weekly. 5 February 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Zaki, Menna; El-Fekki, Amira; Mostafa, Mahmoud (31 January 2015). "'State of Sinai' claim hundreds of killings in Sinai attacks". Daily News Egypt. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  3. ↑ Kingsley, Patrick; Abdo, Manu (30 January 2015). "At least 32 killed in Egypt as militants attack army and police targets in Sinai". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  4. ↑ "Intensifying pre-emptive attacks needed in Sinai: Analysts". Daily News Egypt. 1 February 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  5. 1 2 "Egypt military targeted in deadly Sinai attacks". BBC. 30 January 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  6. 1 2 "Car bomb, rockets kill 26 in Egypt's Sinai". The Borneo Post. 30 January 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  7. ↑ Kirkpatrick, David (30 January 2015). "Bomb Attacks at Security Sites in Sinai Kill at Least 26". New York Times. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  8. ↑ Okbi, Yasser; Hashavua, Maariv (31 January 2015). "Report: Egyptian warplanes bomb Islamist terror bases in Sinai after deadly attacks". Reuters. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  9. ↑ "Egypt Apache helicopters raid Sinai after deadly attacks". Middle East Eye. 1 February 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  10. ↑ Reuters, 6 February 2015: Egyptian military kills 47 militants in the Sinai
  11. ↑ "At least 26 killed, over 100 wounded in North Sinai deadly attacks". Ahram Online. 30 January 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  12. ↑ Fick, Maggie (30 January 2015). "Egypt's Sisi cuts short Ethiopia visit after 30 killed in Sinai". Aswat Masriya. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  13. ↑ "Islamic State's Egypt wing claims credit for terror attacks that killed 27". The Jerusalem Post. 30 January 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  14. ↑ "Al-Arish National Museum damaged in Sinai attacks". Daily News Egypt. 1 February 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  15. ↑ "Report: 6 dead, Egyptian state newspaper office destroyed in Sinai attack". The Jerusalem Post. 29 January 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  16. ↑ "Egypt attack: Profile of Sinai Province militant group". BBC News. 30 January 2015. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  17. ↑ "Egyptian military says it will intensify offensive against terrorism". Ahram Online. 30 January 2015. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  18. ↑ "Egypt's President Establishes Unified Command To Combat Terrorism In Sinai". Egyptian Streets. 31 January 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  19. ↑ "'I Am Ready To Die For Egypt' Declares President Sisi". Egyptian Streets. 31 January 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 "World condemns terrorist attacks in Sinai". State Information Service. 31 January 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  21. ↑ "OIC condemns N. Sinai dealy attack". Kuwait News Agency. 31 January 2015. Archived from the original on 2 February 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  22. ↑ "Ban, Security Council condemn terrorist attacks in Egypt's Sinai peninsula". UN News Center. 30 January 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  23. 1 2 3 "Islamic Countries Fully Condemn Terrorist Attack in Sinai". Prensa Latina. 31 January 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  24. 1 2 3 4 5 "UN condemns Sinai attack, offers condolences". The Cairo Post. 1 February 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  25. ↑ "Indonesia condemns terrorist attack in Egypt`s Sinai Peninsula". Antara. 30 January 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  26. ↑ "Iran Condemns Terrorist Attacks in Egypt's North Sinai". Tasnim News Agency. 30 January 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  27. ↑ "Kuwait condemns terrorist attacks in Egypt's Sinai". Kuwait News Agency. 30 January 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  28. ↑ "Singapore condemns militant attacks in Egypt's Sinai". The Straits Times. 31 January 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  29. ↑ "Foreign Secretary condemns terrorist attacks in North Sinai". Gov.uk. 30 January 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  30. ↑ "US condemns deadly attacks in Egypt's Sinai". Yahoo News. 29 January 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  31. ↑ "Attacks on Sinai directly serve Israel, Iran's top general says". Tehran Times. 31 January 2015. Archived from the original on 1 February 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.