Egypt starts renewed nationwide emergency state, partial Sinai curfew

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Egypt has started on Saturday the implementation of a renewed nationwide state of emergency as well as a partial curfew in parts of North Sinai province northeastern Cairo over security challenges.

It will last in the the regions for three months each, according to two separate decrees published in the country's official gazette earlier in January.

The first time Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi imposed a three-month nationwide state of emergency was in April 2017, following twin bombings at two churches in the northern provinces of Gharbiya and Alexandria that killed at least 47 and wounded over 120.

On the other hand, a constantly renewed partial three-month state of emergency and a curfew have been imposed on some parts of North Sinai province bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip since October 2014, after a terror attack on a military checkpoint there killed at least 33 soldiers.

North Sinai's partial curfew will continue as long as the state of emergency remains in effect, according to the official gazette.

At least 310 people were killed and scores injured when attackers bombed a mosque in the town of Bir al-Abed in North Sinai and then opened fire on fleeing worshipers on November 25, 2017. /VCG Photo

The country has been suffering a wave of terrorist attacks that killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers following the military removal of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to mass protests against his one-year rule and his now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.

Terror attacks had been centered in restive North Sinai before spreading to several provinces including the capital Cairo and starting to target the Coptic minority via church bombings.

Most of the attacks were claimed by the so-called Wilayat Sinai (Sinai state or province), a Sinai-based group affiliated with the ISIL regional terrorist group.

Terrorism in Egypt did not stop at targeting security men and Copts, as a terrorist operation last November against a mosque in North Sinai's Arish city killed at least 310 Muslim worshipers and injured over 120 others, marking the deadliest terror attack and the first against a Muslim mosque in Egypt's modern history.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the mosque attack.

President Sisi ordered the army's chief of staff in late November 2017 to restore security and stability in the restive part of the Sinai Peninsula within three months.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian security forces have killed hundreds of terrorists and arrested thousands of suspects during the country's anti-terror war declared by Sisi, the army chief then, following Morsi's ouster.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency