Egypt launches security sweep after Red Sea attack
Jailan Zayan
CAIRO, Jailan Zayan- Egypt has launched a wide security sweep of Sinai, as it continued to deny on Tuesday that the heavily-guarded peninsula could have been used to launch rockets that landed in Israel and Jordan.
A senior Jordanian official said earlier that his country had proof the deadly rocket that struck the port town of Aqaba on Monday had been fired from Sinai.
"Following the Jordanian comments, Egypt has launched a wide security sweep of the Sinai peninsula," an Egyptian official said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.
But he insisted "there are no organised groups operating in Sinai and security on the peninsula is extremely tight. Any suspicious activity would have been detected," he said.
At least five blasts were heard on Monday, with one rocket exploding in open ground outside the Israeli resort of Eilat, two crashing into the Red Sea and the rest hitting Jordan, killing one person there.
The Jordanian official close to Amman's investigation of the attack said on Tuesday that it was the second such incident in three months.
"We can now say without hesitation that the Grad rocket was launched from Sinai," he said.
South Sinai governor Abdel Fadil Shusha said it was "technically impossible" for the rockets to have reached Eilat and Aqaba from Sinai.
"There are many mountains in Sinai. To launch these rockets you would need a wide open space," he said, adding that there had been "no abnormal activity on our border with Israel."
The Egyptian government has remained mum on the rocket attacks, which were swiftly condemned by the United States and Russia.
On Monday, Israeli police said reports suggested the rockets had been fired from "the south", in an apparent reference to the Sinai peninsula, which lies some 10 kilometres (six miles) south of Eilat.
A similar rocket attack hit Aqaba and Eilat in April although the source of the firing was never established. Another attack on the Red Sea ports in 2005 was claimed by a group of militants operating from Sinai.
Egypt considerably raised its security presence in Sinai following a spate of attacks against tourist resorts in the peninsula.
The major Red Sea beach resorts of Sharm el-Sheikh, Taba and Dahab were all the scene of bloody attacks which killed a total of 130 people between 2004 and 2006.
The attacks were claimed by a previously unknown Islamist group calling itself Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad, and served a major blow to the tourism industry, one of the country's highest sources of foreign income.
In recent years, Egyptian authorities have announced several arrests of Palestinian militants they say were seeking to launch attacks against Israel from Sinai.
Israel has also warned several times of risks of attacks targetting Israelis holidaying in Sinai.
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But he insisted "there are no organised groups operating in Sinai and security on the peninsula is extremely tight. Any suspicious activity would have been detected," he said.
At least five blasts were heard on Monday, with one rocket exploding in open ground outside the Israeli resort of Eilat, two crashing into the Red Sea and the rest hitting Jordan, killing one person there.
The Jordanian official close to Amman's investigation of the attack said on Tuesday that it was the second such incident in three months.
"We can now say without hesitation that the Grad rocket was launched from Sinai," he said.
South Sinai governor Abdel Fadil Shusha said it was "technically impossible" for the rockets to have reached Eilat and Aqaba from Sinai.
"There are many mountains in Sinai. To launch these rockets you would need a wide open space," he said, adding that there had been "no abnormal activity on our border with Israel."
The Egyptian government has remained mum on the rocket attacks, which were swiftly condemned by the United States and Russia.
On Monday, Israeli police said reports suggested the rockets had been fired from "the south", in an apparent reference to the Sinai peninsula, which lies some 10 kilometres (six miles) south of Eilat.
A similar rocket attack hit Aqaba and Eilat in April although the source of the firing was never established. Another attack on the Red Sea ports in 2005 was claimed by a group of militants operating from Sinai.
Egypt considerably raised its security presence in Sinai following a spate of attacks against tourist resorts in the peninsula.
The major Red Sea beach resorts of Sharm el-Sheikh, Taba and Dahab were all the scene of bloody attacks which killed a total of 130 people between 2004 and 2006.
The attacks were claimed by a previously unknown Islamist group calling itself Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad, and served a major blow to the tourism industry, one of the country's highest sources of foreign income.
In recent years, Egyptian authorities have announced several arrests of Palestinian militants they say were seeking to launch attacks against Israel from Sinai.
Israel has also warned several times of risks of attacks targetting Israelis holidaying in Sinai.
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