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IS steps up Sinai fight with bombs in civilian homes
CAIRO, Dec 16, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Residents of Egypt’s restive North Sinai
region ran for their lives when an Islamic State group affiliate occupied
their villages. Now, they are returning to find their homes booby-trapped.
“I lost my sister-in-law and her nine-month-old baby when an explosive
device planted in their home went off,” said a young resident of Aqtiya
village, who asked not to be named for fear of repercussions.
Around 15 people have been killed by improvised explosive devices (IEDs)
since mid-October in villages around Bir al-Abd, in the northwest of the
troubled province, say Egyptian security sources.
The IED attacks that have multiplied in the vast, remote and sparsely
populated region which authorities have declared off-limits to journalists
recall those the IS launched to sow terror in Iraq and Syria.
The recent deaths have badly shaken the 1,000 or so residents who returned
in October after seeking refuge elsewhere in Egypt for three months as the
army continued its grinding battle to crush IS.
Another resident, speaking to AFP by phone, said locals found IS had taken
over their homes, used them as hideouts and then booby-trapped them.
“They even stole our livestock,” he added.
Egyptian security forces have been battling a long-running Islamist
insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula, spearheaded by a local IS affiliate.
The fighting intensified after the military’s 2013 ouster of Islamist
president Mohamed Morsi. In February 2018, security forces launched a
nationwide operation against militants, focused on the sparsely populated
North Sinai.
The Egyptian army said Tuesday that since September it had killed 40
suspected jihadist militants in air and ground operations in the Sinai
region, and that seven of its own personnel had been either wounded or
killed.
In a slickly produced video set to rousing military music, the army showed
panning shots of its troops, tanks and air strikes, along with blurred,
bloody pictures of what it said were dead militants.
Reflecting the militants’ significant fire power, the army said it had
also destroyed 437 weapons caches, defused 159 improvised explosive devices,
and confiscated dozens of other types of weapons.
– Rigging children’s toys –
The coastal town of Bir al-Abd lies on the edge of the barren desert.
In 2017, it saw modern Egypt’s deadliest attack, when 300 worshippers were
killed in a gun and bomb assault at the Rawda mosque during Friday prayers.
The attack was carried out by armed men carrying flags similar to those of
IS, although the jihadist group never formally claimed the attack.
In recent months, attacks have spiked.
The US State Department estimates that IS conducted 137 IED attacks last
year, centred on north and central Sinai, along with “near-weekly complex
assaults on government-fortified positions”.
MORE/MSY/0904 hrs
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EGYPT-UNREST-SINAI-IS-2-LAST “The booby traps in north Sinai directly
follow the precedent set by ISIS operations in Iraq and Syria,” said Nadia
al-Dayel, a Washington-based IS expert and head of Critica, a think tank.
She said the militants have honed their techniques, investing
“considerable time and resources rigging doors, household furniture,
appliances, and even children’s toys”.
Such tactics mirror those found in Syria and northern Iraq where, three
years ago, retreating and encircled IS militants would rig explosives to
fridges, toys and even copies of the Koran. Civilians in northern Iraq told
AFP last year that they were still afraid of returning to their homes because
of the bombs planted in unsuspecting places.
“It is likely that the tactic of targeting civilian life will not only
continue but will be taken up by other violent groups,” warned Dayel,
regarding IS in Sinai.
– ‘Not going away’ –
Human Rights Watch last year accused both Egyptian security forces and
insurgents of committing “war crimes” in North Sinai, a report rejected by
Egyptian authorities.
Some 970 suspected militants and dozens of security personnel have been
killed in North Sinai since February 2018, according to official figures.
No independently verified death toll is available and the region is
largely cut off to journalists.
Residents told AFP the main threat remained IS and its indiscriminate
attacks.
Neither Egypt’s military spokesperson nor North Sinai’s governor responded
to requests for comments on IEDs killing residents.
But the civilian death toll has continued to rise, with locals caught
between the army operations and a hardening insurgency.
One resident, who also declined to be identified, told AFP that the
governor’s office had provided schools as shelters for those displaced after
IS razed five villages around Bir al-Abd. That offensive followed a deadly
counter-terrorism operation in July.
Dayel said that even though the militant group had been largely crushed in
Iraq and Syria, North Sinai provided a fertile ground for its expansion.
“Even with limited resources, ISIS has proven to be a constant threat in
Sinai,” she said. “They are not going away anytime soon.”
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