Egypt

Sinai: Calm by day, dangerous by night

For more than a week since the beginning of the month of Ramadan, calm has been prevailing in the daytime in Sinai, then turns into hell at night.

This is what happened on Tuesday, when gunmen attacked checkpoints in the Rafah Safa and Ahrash districts, as well as the Central Security Forces camp, all with heavy weapons, mortars, and RPGs.

Armed clashes erupted between the attackers and the Egyptian army, with Apache helicopters hovering over the area until the attackers fled, leaving 14 people wounded.

Security sources told the German DPA news agency that 10 of the wounded were from the army.

A similar attack took place Wednesday on army checkpoints and a Central Security Forces camp in Rafah, with the same scenario repeated.

Eyewitnesses saw the unidentified masked men in their SUVs opening fire on the checkpoints then escaping into the desert.

The next morning, calm prevailed again, and the Egyptian army began to demolish the tunnels on the border with Gaza.

On Wednesday, the Egyptian authorities opened the Rafah border crossing with Gaza on an exceptional basis for a period of four hours, for Palestinian patients and pilgrims to cross.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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