Sinai beach
Photo: Gili Sofer
Anti-terror bureau issues Sinai travel warning
Counter-Terrorism Bureau warns of possible attempts by terror cells operating in Egypt to kidnap Israeli tourists in near future, calls on Israelis to leave peninsula immediately
Israel's Counter-Terrorism Bureau updated its travel advisory to Sinai on Tuesday and warned of possible attempts by terror cells operating in the Egyptian peninsula to kidnap Israeli tourists in the near future.
"Terror elements have been looking for some time now to kidnap Israelis in Sinai and may execute an abduction attack very soon," the bureau said in a statement.
"The bureau has been aware of a substantial risk to the safety of Israeli travelers all throughout Egypt for quite some time. The threat level is very concrete."
The bureau advised Israelis to avoid visiting Sinai and called on those already there to leave immediately.
The last travel advisory to Sinai was issued last April, and since then Egyptian security authorities have boosted their alert level in north and south Sinai and doubled the number of checkpoints in the area.
At the beginning of April Egyptian authorities arrested for men for suspicion of planning to carry out terror attacks in Sinai.
In February Egyptian police said they were conducting a manhunt for four Palestinians suspected of plotting to attack tourist sites in Sinai. The men apparently entered Egypt along with thousands of other Palestinians after the Gaza-Egypt border wall was blown open by Palestinian gunmen on January 23.
