Special to WorldTribune.com

CAIRO — The Egyptian Army has identified and raided insurgency strongholds in the Sinai Peninsula.

Officials said the Army, backed by the Central Security Forces, stormed several suspected Al Qaida-aligned strongholds in northern Sinai. They said 21 alleged fighters were captured in military operations on March 26.

“Some of them escaped from Wadi Al Natroun prison during the 2011 revolution,” Egyptian military spokesman Col. Ahmed Ali said.

The military raids took place over two days in such Sinai communities as El Arish, Rafah and Sheik Zweid, all of them near the borders of Israel and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Ali said some of the detainees were monitoring the movement of military and police units around Sheik Zweid, regarded as the stronghold of Al Qaida’s Ansar Beit Maqdis.

Officials said the army was focusing on the Sinai corridor of El Arish to Rafah, divided between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. They said Ansar and other militias were concentrated in Sheik Zweid and nearby communities and regularly attacked security patrols and convoys in northeastern Sinai.

In a briefing on March 26, Ali said the insurgents had been planning bombings against military and security targets. The spokesman said the military seized munitions, automobiles and motorcycles believed used in attacks.

“Eight alleged terrorist havens were burned,” the military said. “Eight
tunnels in Rafah were destroyed.”

Officials said Sinai insurgents were working with the ousted Muslim
Brotherhood. They said the Brotherhood organized cells to attack military
and police checkpoints as well as targets linked to the Cairo regime.

One Brotherhood cell was alleged to have targeted banks in the Nile
Delta. Officials said the cell sought to vandalize ATM machines of the
state-owned National Bank of Egypt.

“They wanted to hurt the military rule,” an official said.

  Ansar Beit Maqdis, Col. Ahmed Ali, Egyptian Army storms Al Qaida strongholds in N. Sinai, El Arish, Rafah