A Mideast news portal is reporting that Arabic media is claiming that Hamas was involved in the recent terrorist attack in the Sinai Peninsula that led to the deaths of more than 30 Egyptian soldiers. (The GMBDW reports this information “as is” noting that Egyptian media is notoriously unreliable with respect to many of these issues.) According to a report by The Tower:
Hamas
Arab media this weekend, especially in Egypt, claim Hamas was involved in the recent attack in the Sinai Peninsula that led to the deaths of more than 30 Egyptian soldiers.
On Friday, October 24, a group of armed men launched a complex assault on a checkpoint in Sinai, which involved a car bomb possibly detonated by a suicide attacker, rocket-propelled grenades and roadside bombs placed to target rescuers. Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah a-Sisi blamed a ‘foreign-funded operation’ for the deadly attacks that killed at least 33 soldiers and declared a state of emergency.
Following the attack, an Egyptian government source told the Egyptian website Veto’ (Arabic link):
‘The information available, the method of implementation of the incident and the weapons used suggest that members of Hamas supported the execution of the crime against the Egyptian army – by planning, supplying weapons or funding.’
Nabil Naim, an Egyptian researcher in the affairs of the Islamic groups, said (Arabic link) that Hamas and the Jihadist group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis are probably both responsible for the attack. Egyptian military official also said (Arabic link) that Hamas gives ‘patronage’ to terrorism in Sinai.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood website has issued a statement condemning the attacks and offering condolences to the families of the victims.
The Hamascharter says that it is “one of the wings of the Muslim Brothers in Palestine.”
