US Peacekeeping Soldier Shot in Egypt’s Sinai

A US soldier with the multinational peacekeeping mission in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula was wounded when gunmen fired at his camp late on Monday, security sources told Aswat Masriya.

The Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) soldier was wounded in the shoulder and was treated by medics at a camp near the northern Sinai village of El-Joura, the sources added.

The MFO is an international peacekeeping mission in Sinai, adjoining Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, responsible for observing the enforcement of the terms of  Egypt’s 1979 peace treaty with Israel, which led to the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the peninsula.

Egypt has been hit by an Islamist insurgency by Sinai-based militants since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. The attacks have mainly targeted soldiers and police but also caused civilian casualties.

The army has launched an extensive campaign to root out the militants who have also stuck Cairo and the Nile Delta with bombings and shootings.