Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Saturday that “foreign support was offered to carry out the operation” in Sinai which left at least 34 security personnel killed on Friday. Sisi addressed the nation in a speech aired on state television on Saturday, hours after declaring a state of emergency in parts of the Sinai Peninsula in response to Friday’s deadly attack. “This [attack] was carried out to … break the Egyptian armed forces’ will, since the armed forces is the state’s pillar,” Sisi said. The president added that such attacks were foreseen by the armed forces before the military ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Mursi on July 3, 2013. All of the soldiers killed on Friday were in their twenties, with the oldest aged 24. The majority of the soldiers were aged 21. Friday’s attack raised the death toll of Egyptian soldiers this week to 41. Egypt’s security forces have intensified their security measures in North Sinai in reaction to repeated militant attacks that target army and police officials, which rose significantly since Mursi’s ouster last year. The attacks soon expanded to other areas of the country, including the capital….
‘Foreign support’ behind Sinai attack that killed 34 Egyptian soldiers
October 25, 2014
