Presidency declares three days of mourning

Following two instances of killing this week directed towards elements of the security apparatuses, the presidency issued a statement on Wednesday evening declaring three days of national mourning.

On Wednesday 11 soldiers were killed and 35 others seriously injured in a car bomb explosion in northern Sinai. On Sunday night, Lieutenant Colonel Mohamed Mabrouk, a National Security officer linked to the trial of ousted President Mohamed Morsi, was killed in Nasr City.

In the statement, the presidency renewed its promise to fight terrorism, declaring that “The souls of our soldiers must be avenged, there has to be retribution.”

“The state successfully eliminated the dark terrorism of the 1990s..and we will succeed again in the coming days, “the statement read.

A military funeral was organized tonight for the 11 killed soldiers during which commander-in-chief and Defense Minister General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Sisi expressed his sorrow to the families of the slain soldiers, and his words unsurprisingly struck the same tone. “Our martyrs are dead as they were fighting terrorism…and despite the grief we feel now, this incident will make us all the more determined to persist with the fight towards those criminals, “he said.

“We don’t fear the pistols of treachery, we don’t fear death because eventually we will all be martyrs,” Sisi declared.

Periodicattacks on security bodies in northern Sinai spiked after the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi in July of this year. Apart from the killing of Mabrouk, and a failed attempt on the life of the interior minister in September, Cairo has also started witnessing scattered acts of violence targeting police and military personnel.