The Egyptian military said that one of its navy vessels came under a terrorist attack in the Mediterranean Sea yesterday, leaving eight servicemen missing at sea and presumed dead, and another five wounded.
Four boats used by the assailants were destroyed and more than 30 of the suspected fighters were arrested, Al-Jazeera TV reported.
The Mediterranean Sea is used by drug traffickers and illegal migrant smugglers who have been intercepted by the Egyptian navy in the past.
There have been no recorded attacks at sea by the Sinai-based armed fighters who launched an insurgency after the army overthrew President Mohamed Morsi last year.
Wednesday’s incident comes days after a group calling itself Ansar Beit al-Maqdis pledged its allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a Sunni group that has seized territory in Syria and Iraq.
According to Al-Jazeera, an Egyptian military source told the Agence France-Presse news agency that the attackers had firearms but did not appear to have used heavier weapons, such as rocket propelled grenades.
Security experts who spoke to the Egyptian newspaper Al-Wafd warned (Arabic link) of an approaching “maritime war” and said that it seems the terrorist organizations are changing their strategy. A former senior security officer claimed that the Muslim Brotherhood is helping such attacks. The newspaper Al-Masri al-Youm reported that ISIS, a Sunni terror group that has seized territory in Syria and Iraq, was behind the attack.
The Arabi21 news site quoted (Arabic link) military and security experts saying:
This attack is considered a dangerous and unusual development and is added to a series of attacks on military and police forces … This is the first time Egyptian forces are attacked at sea.
Wednesday’s incident comes days after a jihadi group calling itself Ansar Beit al-Maqdis pledged allegiance to ISIS. This organization has focused its attacks on troops in Sinai Peninsula, but has occasionally carried out car bombings and other attacks across Egypt.
In October 2000, Islamic terrorists attacked the American warship USS Cole in Yemen, killing 17 American sailors and seriously damaging the ship.
[Photo: Pixabay, CC0 Public Domain]