Egyptians had hardly digested news of the loss of 31 soldiers in a terrorist attack in Northern Sinai on 24 October than they woke up to stories of a mysterious naval terrorist attack, 40 km north of Damietta, in which, according to official statements, eight sailors were “lost” — probably drowned in the Mediterranean Sea after clashing with unidentified armed men on board four, small boats. Five sailors were wounded in the same attack, according to Army Spokesman Colonel Mohamed Samir. Thirty-two people on board the boats attacking the naval ship were arrested. As if to rub salt in the wound the largest terrorist organisation in Sinai, Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, released a 30-minute video on 15 November including footage of its attack on the army check point, Karam Al-Qawadis, in Rafah, Sinai, where the 31 soldiers were killed in late October. The video included horrific footage of masked terrorists chasing unarmed soldiers and shooting them dead after the checkpoint was blown up by a suicide bomber in a pick-up filled with explosives. The camera shooting the video was placed on top of a machinegun, underlining the importance the terrorists laid to using the media for propaganda. Near the end of the video a soldier, naked except for his underwear, sits on the ground surrounded by corpses of fellow soldiers. Ignoring his appeals, the terrorists fire bullets at various parts of his body and he falls dead. They continue to shoot at his dead body. The video also showed terrorists walking around the checkpoint, turning over corpses with their boots to show faces covered in blood. The terrorists then displayed two tanks seized at the checkpoint and a cache of weapons including machine guns, grenades and uniforms. One masked terrorist jumped on top of a tank, waving the flag of the Iraq-based Dawlet Al-Khilafa Al-Islamiya (Islamic State), led by Abu-Bakr Al-Baghdadi. Another delivers a nearly eight minute speech, with the seized weapons in the background. The key message was this was only the beginning: more attacks were to be expected in revenge for members of the group who have been killed or are in prison. Along with sickening pictures of bodies of soldiers strewn over Karam Al-Qawadis checkpoint, the producers of the video had inserted footage of soldiers brutally beating two blindfolded men arrested for alleged involvement in terrorist attacks, as well as pictures of suspected terrorists shot dead by the army. This was a clear attempt to provide justification for their own attacks. The unidentified speaker repeated his warning to young Egyptian men that they should not join the army and take part in its war against terrorists in Sinai. While most coverage of the footage focused on the brutal murder of young men performing their compulsory military service, the video, entitled Sawlet Al-Ansar (The Battle of Ansar), included a number of chilling announcements by Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis. The group said it had renamed itself Welayet Sinai (the State of Sinai), seeming to confirm earlier reports that Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis had decided to swear allegiance to Al-Baghdadi who has assigned himself the title of caliph. In a recording released by the Islamic State a week ago Al-Baghdadi said that his group, known locally as Daesh, an abbreviation of its Arabic name Al-Dawla Al-Islamyia Fil Iraq Wal-Sham (The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria or ISIS), had decided to expand its mandate to include Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Libya and Algeria. Al-Baghdadi said that he would accept the declarations of support that had come to him from organisations, some previously affiliated to Al-Qaeda, backing him as the Caliph, the ruler of all countries where Islam is the main religion. Reviving the Caliphate is the declared goal of several Islamist groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, although they differ on whether this should be achieved by peaceful or armed means. The expansion of the Islamic State's claims to include Sinai and the seeming official declaration by Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis that it is part of the growing network of terrorist organisations which the international community, led by the US, is now fighting, raises the spectre of possible major terrorist attacks across the country, possibly by non-Egyptian members of the group. Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis has been mostly active in Sinai, launching guerilla warfare against the Egyptian army, its declaration that it decided to join the Islamic State In Syria, Iraq and other hotspots in which Al-Qaeda has been active, including North African nations such as Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, many of its fighters opted to join the Islamic State after its sudden success in capturing large parts of Iraq and Syria. They include young fighters from Arab and Muslim countries as well as several European nations, all fighting to revive the Caliphate. The appearance of yet another video in which five masked men, filmed with the flag of the Islamic State in the background, claimed responsibility for the attack against the navy ship north of Damietta, compounded fears that the Islamic State was acting on its threat to increase activities in Egypt. One of the men, his voice distorted to hide his accent, claimed that “as we speak one of our units will be carrying out an unprecedented operation, seizing a navy ship that belongs to the army of the infidels to use it to take over another Israeli army ship in order to force the release of our brothers in prison”. Egyptian security officials remained tightlipped, at least on record. Several unnamed senior sources were quoted in the local media saying they suspected the involvement of foreign intelligence bodies. Some reports speculated that the terrorists involved in the attack came from Libya, others claimed they belonged to Hamas, the militant Palestinian group. Hamas and other groups that allegedly receive funding from Qatar and Turkey have often been cited as suspects in terrorist attacks taking place in Egypt over the last 16 months. Both Qatar and Turkey support the Muslim Brotherhood and opposed the army's removal of Mohamed Morsi on 3 July, 2013. The sparse information offered by the army spokesman on what happened in the Mediterranean Sea opened the door wide to speculation and rumour. The army's version of the story was that armed men in small boats attacked the ship after sending a false emergency rescue signal. The army spokesman added that the navy immediately used nearby ships and helicopters to attack the smaller boats and arrested 32 people. Three days after the attack, however,16 of those arrested by the navy were released. The authorities confirmed assertions by their families that they were fishermen carrying out their daily jobs and happened to be near the spot where the incident took place. Residents of the small town of Ezbet Al-Borg in Damietta have been holding small demonstrations in front of the governorate headquarters demanding the release of the remaining fishermen. There have been reports, including in the daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, that army intelligence was investigating allegations that the commander of the navy vessel Ahmed Mustafa Amer had opted to join the Islamic State. The officer allegedly shot dead his colleagues, seeking to use the boat in a terrorist attack that was foiled when Egyptian ships and helicopters bombed Amer's vessel. Al-Masry Al-Youm quoted security sources as saying that Amer had only recently assumed command of the naval vessel, replacing another officer, Mohamed Al-Fugeiri, after he was wounded in a car accident a week before the attack. The newspaper reported that intelligence bodies were investigating whether Fugeiri's car accident was a coincidence, and added that the navy's commander in Damietta had cancelled a ceremony honouring Amer's father, Mustafa Amer, a senior navy officer, who recently retired as director of Damietta Harbor. The story was neither confirmed nor denied by the Egyptian army spokesman. Several retired army generals, speaking to the media as military and strategic experts, warned the two attacks in Sinai and Damietta, and the release of the video of Karam Al-Qawadis attack, were aimed at shaking the confidence of the public in the military's ability to confront terrorist groups. “The release of this awful video came after the army launched several successful attacks against Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis in Sinai,” said retired Major-General Talaat Moussa. In the wake of the 24 October attack in which 31 soldiers were killed, the army has been carrying out nearly daily operations in the Rafah area in Northern Sinai, on the border with Gaza, killing and arresting dozens of terrorists. The crackdown against the terrorists in Sinai has included the removal of hundreds of families who had houses along the border with Gaza on the grounds many of the buildings hid entrances to cross border tunnels used to smuggle weapons and terrorists. “Terrorists cannot move freely at all in Sinai now,” said Moussa. “That is why they released the video to claim that they are still a presence and have not been crushed by the successful army operations.” he added. On Sunday the Army's Public Affairs Office released its own, nearly five-minute video, a response to the footage compiled by Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis. The video displayed some of its most advanced weapons, including tanks and helicopters, carrying out military operations in Sinai. The video also showed soldiers arresting blindfolded suspects, and treating them humanely.
