North Sinai security authorities are raising their alert levels following reports that extremist groups intend to carry out major attacks on police stations with booby-trapped vehicles, news reports quoted security sources as saying Monday.
The sources told Palestinian Maan News Agency that the directives were issued by sovereign state bodies in Cairo, which urged Sinai security services to handle any unknown vehicles approaching police, army and intelligence quarters with caution.
The same sources said authorities are preparing for possible attacks on the border with Israel in response to the latter’s assassination of the leader of the Salafi group Tawhid wal-Jihad, Sheikh Hesham al-Saediny, on Saturday in Gaza.
Egyptian army and police forces have been working to clear Sinai of extremist groups since an attack on an army checkpoint in early August killed 16 soldiers.
