TerrorismEgypt thwarts terrorist attack on Israeli gas platforms in the Mediterranean Sea
Egypt said it had thwarted an attempt by Islamic State (ISIS)-affiliated Egyptian terrorists on 12 November to attack Israeli energy platforms in the Mediterranean Sea. The terrorists, members of the Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis terror group which operates in the Sinai Peninsula, commandeered an Egyptian navy missile boat for the planned attack. Other Egyptian navy vessels gave chase and stopped the commandeered missile boat, killing eight aboard in a heavy exchange of fire. In addition to attacking Israeli gas platform, the terrorists planned to attack Israeli ships.
Egyptian Ramadan-class missile corvette // Source: topwar.ru
Egypt said it had thwarted an attempt by Islamic State (ISIS)-affiliated terrorists on 12 November to attack Israeli energy platforms in the Mediterranean Sea. Israel’s Channel 2 TV reported that the terrorists commandeered an Egyptian navy missile boat for the planned attack. Other Egyptian navy vessels gave chase and stopped the commandeered missile boat, killing eight aboard in a heavy exchange of fire. An Egyptian military spokesman said on 12 November that the seizure of one of its navy vessels in a “terrorist” attack left five Egyptian servicemen injured and eight others missing at sea. The Egyptian navy destroyed four boats used by the assailants, and captured thirty-two of the Islamist militants.
The mid-November Egyptian statements about the planned attack did not mention the terrorists’ intended targets.
Times of Israel quotes Israeli TV reports from yesterday (Monday) which added new details to the Egyptian account of 12 November. Monday’s Israel’s Channel 2 TV report said that ISIS-affiliated Sunni extremists “staged an accident” on board of the missile boat and were able to install a member of their own group in temporary charge of the Egyptian vessel. They set out for sea from the port of Damietta, planning to attack Israeli boats and gas installations in the Mediterranean.
Egyptian naval commanders, monitoring routine radio communications with the commandeered missile boat, realized something was not right and sent out other navy vessels to give chase. “They managed to neutralize” the terrorists, the TV report said.
The report did not identify the sources of the story, but did note the close cooperation between the Egyptian and Israeli navies and intelligence services — “closer than in the days of Mubarak,” the reporter emphasized.
Back on 12 November, Egypt’s official MENA news agency reported that a naval vessel was set on fire in a heavy exchange of fire with assailants about seventy kilometers off Egypt’s coast. The MENA report also said that the Egyptian air force took part in the attack on the commandeered vessel.
The al-Qaeda-affiliated Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis terror group, which operates in the Sinai Peninsula, earlier in November announced its loyalty to ISIS.
The Islamist group has launched several deadly attacks against Egyptian forces since the military overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood’ Mohammed Morsi last year.
