Al-Sisi visits terror-stricken Sinai as military releases strike footage
Egypt's president arrives in uniform to greet troops and convey security days after coordinated attacks by Islamists.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi travelled to the troubled northern part of the Sinai Peninsula to inspect troops on Saturday, after Islamic State-linked militants struck a blow against the military this week in a coordinated assault.
Al-Sisi said the events of the last few days in the peninsula were preplanned and organized, hinting at the existence of a conspiracy within and without Egypt. The president, who also commands the armed forces, said the purpose of the latest attacks was to create a misleading picture of an unstable, insecure Egypt.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian military released footage of airstrikes on militants in the wake of the terror attacks.
According to al-Sisi, military forces in the Sinai constitute no more than one percent of all troops deployed throughout Egypt. "No one can shake the Egyptian people's will or influence its decision to be rid of religious fascism," said al-Sisi, who claimed that his forces were prepared in advance for the current wave of terror.
He said the group had tried to announce "an Islamic state, in their concept, an Islamic State in Sinai. "These are the messages, very simply, that they are putting out to us," he said, adding that the area was now under control.
Al-Sisi praised the troops for "foiling a very big plan."
"No one can impose on the Egyptians something they don't want," he said. "To reach the Egyptians they have to pass through the army, the sons of Egypt."
Al-Sisi and Egyptian media outlets said 200 Islamists had been killed since the attacks. Al-Sisi took the unusual step of wearing his military uniform on his visit to the north Sinai, in a show of solidarity with soldiers and security forces.
Al-Sisi called on citizens to remain particularly alert in the coming period ahead of the opening of the new Suez Canal at the beginning of August.
Airstrikes in north Sinai continued throughout Saturday, with security forces reporting the deaths of 25 militants.
Sources said planes struck targets near Sheikh Zowaiid, destroying arms and explosives stores. The sources added that border guards located half a ton of explosives in a tunnel between Egypt and Gaza.
The army said 17 soldiers and over 100 militants were killed in Wednesday's brazen attack in Sinai, although before the release of its official statement, several senior security officials from multiple branches of Egypt's forces in the area had said that scores more troops also died in the fighting.
The assault, which was claimed by an Islamic State group affiliate, lasted a whole day and was unprecedented in its size and coordination. The attack hit a string of army checkpoints and involved multiple suicide bombings and the siege of a main police station with heavy weapons.
It came after a week of bloodletting that saw Egypt's prosecutor general assassinated outside his Cairo home by a massive car bomb, and a special forces raid on an apartment that killed nine members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood responded by calling for a "rebellion," raising the prospect of a further uptick in violence.
In Sinai's Rafah, a city on the border with the Gaza Strip, a roadside bomb exploded near a civilian home Saturday, killing a child and wounding four others, security officials said.
Also Saturday, the Islamic State affiliate in the Sinai also said it had fired three Grad rockets at Israel a day earlier.
In a statement posted on its Twitter account, the group which calls itself the IS group's Sinai Province said it fired the rockets because Israel was supporting the Egyptian regime. It also claimed Israeli aircraft had joined Egyptian warplanes in bombing its fighters.
Israel's military said the rocket was fired into southern Israel on Friday afternoon, hitting an open field but causing no damage or injuries. Egyptian military and security officials in Sinai have denied any rockets were fired from the restive peninsula.
Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report.
