Two suicide bombers struck Wednesday just outside a base that houses a multinational peacekeeping force in Egypt's Sinai peninsula, two days after terrorists exploded three bombs at a Sinai beach resort. No deaths were reported, but there were conflicting accounts on the wounded.
Egypt's official news agency confirmed the attack was a suicide bombing, and an Interior Ministry statement said the only casualties were the bombers. A spokesman for the Multinational Force and Observers said he did not believe any troops were hurt but was awaiting a final report.
Other security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information, said they believed at least one New Zealander and one Norwegian attached to the multinational force were wounded along with two Egyptian policemen.
The attackers hit outside the air base where the force is headquartered in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, just 10 miles from the Israeli border near Rafah. It came two days after a Monday night bomb killed at least 24 people at the popular southern Sinai resort of Dahab.
The peacekeeping force was set up as part of the 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt that led to Israel's withdrawal from the Sinai. It is partially paid for by the United States and has U.S. advisers and soldiers attached to it — in addition to soldiers from several other nations, including Canada.
The Sinai — Egypt's desert peninsula that abuts Israel and separates the Mediterranean from the Red Sea — has been wracked by a series of Islamic extremist bombings in the last year and a half.
The multinational force also has a base in southern Sinai.