Special to WorldTribune.com

CAIRO — Egypt has launched a blockade over part of the coast of the
Sinai Peninsula.

Officials said the Egyptian Coast Guard has enforced a blockade over the
coast of northern Sinai. They said the blockade was meant to stop the flow
of Al Qaida-aligned fighters and weapons into the turbulent peninsula.

“The ban will remain indefinitely,” an official said.

Officials said the move would suspend fishing operations along the northern Sinai coast. They said the blockade would be tightest around the coastal city of El Arish, believed to contain insurgency strongholds.

At least 1,000 infiltrators have entered Sinai since a military counter-insurgency campaign in May. Officials said many of the infiltrators were Palestinians who had been blocked from entering through
the tunnels that spanned the border with the Gaza Strip.

Officials said the Coast Guard has been intercepting small boats
believed to have left the nearby Gaza coast. Those arrested were said to
have included members of Hamas as well as the Iranian-sponsored Islamic
Jihad.

“The infiltration from Gaza stems mostly via the sea after we blocked
the tunnels,” the official said. “But we know that there have
been terrorists sent specifically for operations in Sinai.”

  Egypt blockades N. Sinai coast to stem tide of Al Qaida infiltrators, Egyptian Coast Guard, El Arish, Gaza Strip