Sinai-based jihadi group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis has vowed to attack Egypt's armed forces in response to recent military operations in the restive Egyptian peninsula. The group condemned the operations for affecting the lives of innocent civilians, including children and the elderly. Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis earlier claimed responsibility for the attack on Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim, by a bombing a vehicle near his convoy in the Nasr City district, east of Cairo. The Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis statement, acquired by Egypt Independent, said the group would not allow innocent blood to go to waste. The response, with the help of other jihadis in Sinai and across Egypt, would be swift and painful, it said. “We will destroy the capability of the army, through which it destroys [the] homes of Muslims.” The statement also accused the armed forces of aiming to displace and terrorize the people of Sinai under the guise of a "war on terrorism." The jihadi statement pointed to operations by the army on Friday, which saw Lefitat village in Sheikh Zuwayed shelled, resulting in the deaths of three children aged between one and seven. Three others died in the attack, including a woman. Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis concluded their statement by saying that the Egyptian army intends to create a buffer zone between it and Israel, chiefly to protect Israeli security.
