Gunmen kill 16 Egypt border guards, enter Israel

EGYPT: Gunmen on Sunday killed 16 guards in Egypt near the border with Israel before stealing two armoured vehicles and crossing into the Jewish state where one vehicle was destroyed by a helicopter.

An Egyptian medical official said gunmen in Bedouin attire drove up in two vehicles and opened fire on a checkpoint near the Karm Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom in Hebrew) border crossing and opened fire. The health ministry said 16 soldiers and border guards were killed, while a security official said another seven were wounded.

The official MENA news agency said the gunmen were “jihadists” from inside the Islamist Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

State television and MENA reported that Egypt was closing its Rafah frontier crossing with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip “until further notice”.

Rafah is the only crossing between Gaza and the outside world that is not under Israeli control.

Speaking after an emergency meeting with military officials, the interior minister and the intelligence chief, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi vowed to retake control of the Sinai after the attack.

“The (security) forces will take full control of these regions,” Morsi said in a television address.

He had given “clear instructions” that Egypt must take “full control of the Sinai”, after the security situation deteriorated markedly following the ouster of longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak early last year.

AFP