Egypt

Sinai car bomb kills 12 Egyptian soldiers

At least 12 Egyptian soldiers were killed and dozens injured in a car bomb Nov. 20 near the Sinai city of El-Arish, security officials told Ma'an News Agency. A car laden with explosives hit two buses carrying around 100 Egyptian soldiers, the officials said. Egyptian security sources told Ma'an that a Hyundai Verna was parked on the right-hand side of the main road between Rafah and El-Arish, and had signaled that it had broken down. The car was then remotely detonated as four unarmored personnel carriers passed by. Egyptian officials said the militants who detonated the car bomb were being updated by others about the movement of the vehicles, which were loaded at a site in Rafah.

Egypt: journalists charged for 'slanderous' interview

Egypt's Middle East News Agency (MENA) announced on Nov. 11 that Judge Hisham Genina and two journalists will be prosecuted for allegedly insulting other judges. Genina gave an interview to Moammed el-Sanhouri, a reporter for Al-Masry Al-Youm daily in 2012, in which the judge accused the head of the Egyptian Judges' Club, a social club for jurists, of corruption. Both the judge and the reporter are now being charged with libel, along with the news publication's Chief Editor Magdi el-Galad.

Egypt: clashes in Cairo, insurgency in Sinai

Deadly clashes erupted in Cairo Oct. 6 as pro-Morsi marches protesting the military converged on Tahrir Square, where thousands were celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1973 war against Israel in a display of support for the army. In the ineivtable melee, police intervened with tear-gas and armored vehicles. Confrontations also ocurred in Giza, Minya and elsewhere outside the capital, with the death toll reaching 51 and some 500 detained. The National Alliance to Support Legitimacy, a coalition of Islamist forces supporting deposed president Mohamed Morsi, claimed that at least 11 protesters were killed in Cairo. The anti-Morsi movement Tamarod began gathering at Tahrir Square the previous evening, chanting pro-military slogans. Interim President Adly Mansour in a televised speech pledged to "defeat much-hated terrorism and blind violence with the rule of law that will protect the freedom of citizens." (Al Ahram, Al Arabiya, Oct. 6; Middle East Online, Oct. 6)

Egypt court bans Muslim Brotherhood

An Egyptian court on Sept. 23 banned the Muslim Brotherhood and ordered its assets confiscated as part of the military government's crackdown on the group. The Cairo administrative court declared that its ruling would apply to all organizations affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, including its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party. Although the Muslim Brotherhood was banned for most of its 85-year existence, it attained power when Islamist Mohamed Morsi became president in 2012. It is unclear if the Muslim Brotherhood will appeal the ruling.

Egypt: one dead in 'Friday of Martyrs'

An Aug. 23 protest mobilization called by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, dubbed a "Friday of Martyrs," was portrayed as a failure in the Western press  (NYT), the military flooding the streets with armored vehicles, erecting barbed-wire barricades at major intersections—and taking the extraordinary move of ordering prominent mosques closed. But Egypt's Ahram Online reports that there were nonetheless street clashes in several cities—especially in the Nile Delta region north of Cairo. One protester was killed, and 25 injured, at Tanta, in the Delta's Gharbiya governorate. At Mansoura, in neighboring Daqahliya governorate, police used tear-gas as protesters were attackjed by hundreds of residents. Similar clashes were reported at Anshas Al-Raml village in the Delta's Sharqiya governorate, as supporters and opponents of Morsi hurled stones at each other.  

Egypt: 25 soldiers killed by militants in Sinai

At least 25 Egyptian soldiers were killed by militants in an ambush on two buses in north Sinai on Aug. 19. The soldiers were reportedly executed by militants after being forced to leave the buses, a correspondent for Ma'an News Service said. Three other Egyptian servicemen were injured in the attack. The soldiers were part of a central security unit deployed along the Israel-Egypt border and around Rafah, officials said. It is the deadliest attack on Egypt's armed forces since militants killed 16 soldiers near the Gaza fence last August. On Aug. 15, militants in the Sinai killed seven soldiers in an attack on a checkpoint. Since the military coup that toppled president Mohamed Morsi after massive nationwide protests against his rule, militant groups have launched almost daily attacks on troops and police in Sinai. 

Egypt: Revolutionary Socialists statement on crisis

From Egypt's Revolutionary Socialists, Aug. 14, via Jadaliyya:

Down with Military Rule!
Down with al-Sisi, the Leader of the Counter-Revolution!

The bloody dissolution of the sit-ins in al-Nahda Square and Raba'a al-Adawiyya is nothing but a massacre—prepared in advance. It aims to liquidate the Muslim Brotherhood. But, it is also part of a plan to liquidate the Egyptian Revolution and restore the military-police state of the Mubarak regime.

Egypt: Ikhwan unleash rage on Copts

As the death toll from the previous day's operation to clear Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan) protest camps in Cairo was estimated as high as 600, Ikhwan supporters on Aug. 15 staged new marches in the capital, where a government building was set alight, as well as in Alexandria, where street clashes were reported. A governorate building was also torched in Giza, while seven soldiers were killed by unknown gunmen near El Arish in the Sinai peninsula. Ikhwan supporters also unleashed their rage on Coptic Christians, with several churches, homes, and Copt-owned businesses attacked throughout the country. Coptic rights group the Maspero Youth Union (MYU) estimated that as many as 36 churches were "completely" devastated by fire across nine governorates, including Minya, Sohag and Assiut. Egyptians on Twitter used #EgyChurch to crowd-source images and reports of attacks on churches. (Ahram Online, Ahram OnlineMiddle East Online, BBC News, Aug. 15; Al Jazeera, Aug. 12)

Syndicate content