Terrorists fire long-range missile in Egypt’s Sinai: Officials

A terrorist group linked to al-Qaeda has fired a long-range missile in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, security sources say.

The surface-to-surface missile with a strike range of 45 kilometers was fired from the Nekhel in central Sinai towards Suez governate on Sunday.

The missile landed in a mountainous area in Suez and left a three-meter-deep crater. The missile is believed to be made from Israeli ordnance fired into the area in the past.

“The militants in Sinai launched an Israeli-made surface-to- surface missile, (which) exploded in Bear 5 zone of Nekhel city,” a senior security official in Sinai told Xinhua.

The missile launch comes a day Egypt’s interior ministry told police in the Sinai Peninsula to raise a state of emergency after obtaining intelligence that terrorists might attack their forces there.

In August 2012, at least 15 Egyptian policemen were killed in an assault on a police station at the border between Egypt and Israel. It was the deadliest incident in Egypt’s Sinai in decades.

In response, Cairo launched an offensive against terrorists in Sinai, sending thousands of troops backed by tanks and heavy equipment into the region.