Egypt’s Sisi calls for ‘brute force’ to secure Sinai

By Viola Fahmy

CAIRO (AA) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday ordered the army and police to use “brute force” to restore security in the restive Sinai Peninsula within the next three months.

He was speaking days after a deadly militant attack on a mosque in the northern Sinai Peninsula killed more than 300 people and injured scores.

Speaking at a ceremony on Wednesday, al-Sisi urged the army chief of staff and interior minister “to use all brute force necessary to restore security and stability in Sinai within three months”.

No group has claimed responsibility for the mosque attack, but Egyptian officials always point the finger at Daesh-linked militant operating the desert area.

The Sinai Peninsula has remained the epicenter of a deadly militant insurgency since mid-2013, when Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first freely-elected president, was ousted and imprisoned in a military coup.

Since then, hundreds of Egyptian security personnel have been killed in attacks across Sinai, especially in the peninsula’s volatile northeastern quadrant, which shares borders with both Israel and the Gaza Strip.