A security crackdown in the city of Sheikh Zuwayed in North Sinai on Tuesday, resulted in the destruction of 10 alleged terrorist hotbeds and the arrest of four suspects, including two Palestinians.
Security sources said in a press statement on Tuesday that the campaign targeted the Kharouba area, in which they burnt and destroyed 10 straw and brick houses which security says were being used as bases for terrorist attacks against military and police forces.
The sources said in the houses they found 15 terrorist gas cylinder, used to fill the explosive devices, in addition to a military uniform that belongs to Hamas.
The raids have resulted in the arrest of a large number of men in the last period in addition to the many deaths of what the military has dubbed “dangerous elements.” North Sinai Governorate has witnessed tight security measures and widespread, intense security checkpoints.
Many North Sinai residents claim they are randomly targeted and that many of those the military has rounded up are innocent. Residents also say that the armed forces punish whole villages when they suspect it is harboring one terrorist. Ibrahim Menai, the Head of the Sinai Tribes Union, has called the military operations in Sinai a “scorthed earth” campaign.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
