On Wednesday, Egyptian police sources said that a Palestinian man wearing a suicide belt, who was planning to attack Israelis in the Sinai region, was caught by authorities after he entered Egypt through a tunnel on the Gaza border.
The Tuesday arrest in Rafah led authorities to two Palestinian accomplices. One of the sources said, "Under questioning he said that he intended to travel to Southern Sinai to carry out a suicide bombing at one of the villages or resorts frequented by large numbers of Israelis."
Southern Sinai resorts have been attacked three times in the past two and half years. Egyptian police attribute the attacks to a group of Sinai Bedouin Islamists who are sympathetic towards the Palestinians. The first attack at Taba, a town near the Israeli border, hit a large number of Israeli tourists who were visiting during a Jewish holiday. The other attacks hit tourists in general and Egyptians working at the resorts.
Hisham Abu al-Walid and Emad Abu al-Qassam are the names of the listed accomplices, according to Reuters. The name of the man caught wearing the suicide belt has not yet been revealed. Israelis continue to visit the south Sinai resorts despite the fact that the Israeli government has warned them that an attack could be underway.
In addition to Wednesday's arrest, Egyptian police also found 240 old anti-tank mines and six artillery shells stashed in a secret depot in central Sinai mountains. It is suspected that the owners planned to empty out the ordnance, left over from 20th century wars, and smuggle the explosive material to Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli government frequently complains about the smuggling of weapons, ammunition, and explosives across the Egypt-Gaza border. Egypt claims that it does its best to stop it.
