Bomb attacks in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula left two Islamic shrines severely damaged on Sunday, the state news agency reported. One of the shrines targeted was near the North Sinai town of Bir el-Abd, and the other was in the area of el-Maghara farther south. Often dedicated to saints or descendants of the Prophet Mohammed, Islamist militants occupying the region consider such shrines forbidden according to the puritanical Islamic vision. The North Sinai region is always restive, used as a base by hardline Islamists who increased their attacks after the security vacuum created by the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011. But attacks on security forces, and subsequent reprisals, have become almost daily since Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi’s ouster on July 3. (With Reuters)
Aug52013