In Egypt, it’s always been said that some of the most dangerous threats to the seat of government in Cairo emerge from the Sinai Peninsula. And this week, Egyptian officials began whispering that insurgency had already begun.
On Wednesday, two bombs were simultaneously exploded in Rafah, which straddles the border between Egypt and Gaza on the northwesternmost [NOTE: northeastern] tip of the Sinai Peninsula. The first bomb brought down a two-story building which housed Egyptian military intelligence officers while the other hit an armored personnel carrier full of Egyptian soldiers at a checkpoint nearby. At least six people were killed.
“This wasn’t some random hit, this was a well-coordinated attack,” said a local government official who spoke to BuzzFeed by phone and asked to be quoted anonymously because he has been targeted in the past. “If the Egyptian army thought they had dealt with the insurgency in Sinai with their military campaign last month, this is a sign that the war has just begun.”
Egypt was an autocracy backed by the military when we began sending aid to Egypt. How does it make sense to cancel it now--while Egypt is fighting jihadis--just because a possibly rigged election but Islamists into power briefly before the military restored the old autocrats to power?
Keep Egypt in the fight.
