MOI: Foreign intelligence bodies behind Farafra attack

Foreign intelligence bodies may be behind the attack on the Farafra checkpoint, and incident left 21 military soldiers and officers dead, Interior Ministry Spokesperson Hany Abdel Latif told the official Middle East News Agency (MENA).

Armed Forces Spokesperson Mohamed Samir said on Tuesday that the perpetrators of the attack have been identified, without revealing their identities.

Abdel Latif asserted that the attack occurred at the same time a North Sinai pipeline was bombed.

Terrorist attacks, according to Abdel Latif, are carried out by terrorist elements who were trained in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq and were recruited by foreign intelligence bodies to “carry out international plots”.

He added that terrorism usually finds a fertile environment to grow in “fragmented and weak societies”, while united and strong societies like Egypt cannot be affected by terrorism. Terrorist elements will thus resort to plots aimed at affecting the morale of the people, like what happened in Farafra, Abdel Latif explained.

“Egypt has gone through a great war against the plot of the New Middle East across the last three years and successfully made it fail,” he added.

According to preliminary investigations, 20 assailants in four different off-road vehicles were behind the attack. One vehicle reportedly carried highly explosive substances, while other assailants fired sniper rifles, Kalashnikovs, RPG rocket launchers and hand grenades.

The perpetrators attempted to break through the checkpoint using light weaponry but were met with resistance from the troops, according to Samir.

“When they failed to break into the checkpoint, they launched a number of RPG rockets at the checkpoint, targeting a gas cylinder which exploded, along with the ammunition depot, and killed a number of soldiers at the checkpoint,” the spokesperson said.