Military denies identities of Sinai abductors discovered

A military spokesman dismisses news reports that Egypt's Armed Forces has discovered, but still conceals, identities of abductors of Egyptian security personnel in Sinai last May

A military spokesman denied Thursday that identities of Islamist militants who kidnapped seven Egyptian security men in Sinai Peninsula last May have been discovered.
A private Egyptian newspaper on Thursday quoted an anonymous military official as saying that Egypt's Armed Forces has tracked down kidnappers but is reluctant, '"due to certain reasons", to reveal their names or arrest them.
"Egyptian Armed Forces … has all the capabilities that allow it to reach abductors and bring them to justice regardless of any threats or challenges [it is faced with]." Spokesperson Ahmed Mohamed Ali said on Thursday.
The kidnappers are allegedly part of Tawhid wal Jihad, a hardline group which is blamed for bomb attacks on Sinai tourist resorts from 2004 to 2006.
They had demanded the release of detained group members sentenced to death last September for attacking police in North Sinai in 2011, killing seven people.
The abducted soldiers were released six days later in advance of an imminent military operation.
The incident, however, has highlighted alarm over the lawlessness and increasing militancy in the peninsula following the 2011 uprising that swept president Mubarak from power.
Last Sunday, suspected militants shot dead a counterterrorism police officer in the Sinai Peninsula.
In April, militants fired two rockets from Sinai into Israel. They have also attempted a number of cross-border raids.
In August of last year, 16 Egyptian border guards were killed by militants near Egypt's border with Israel and Gaza . Attackers captured two Egyptian army vehicles. Attackers stole an armored vehicle and tried to push their way over the border, where they were killed by Israeli security forces.
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