2 Egyptian Soldiers injured in RPG Attack

Unknown assailants fire rockets at military post in El Arish; servicemen suffer shrapnel injury.

Two Egyptian soldiers were injured Saturday following a rocket attack on a military post near El Arish, in northern Sinai, Cairo’s media reported.

According to reports, the soldiers were on an operation meant to ambush gunmen on the main road between Sheikh Zweid city and Rafah, when they came under RPG fire by unknown assailants.

The troops returned fire. The Egyptian Military reportedly sent tanks from Sheikh Zweid and Rafah to back up the soldiers.

Two of the troops – Ahmad Rifaat, 23, and Carlos Mansour Aziz, 21 – suffered shrapnel injuries from a rocket-propelled grenade fired during the clash, Egyptian security sources said.

Military sources were quoted as saying that the attack was executed by “Jihadi groups” in response to the deadly clashes in Cairo’s Abbasiyya neighborhood on Wednesday.

The report also quoted Egyptian officials as saying that “The ongoing attacks by these groups in the Sinai against army and police forces are part of plans to control the peninsula and turn it into an ‘Islamist emirate”, according to Ynetnews.com.