Seven members of the Egyptian security forces were kidnapped by unknown assailants in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula early on Thursday.
According to state news agency MENA the seven include one member of the armed forces, four port security officers, and two state security officers.
They were abducted at a checkpoint near the Green Valley – on the Rafah-Arish road – in North Sinai, Reuters reported.
According to Turkish news agency Anadol a state security officer has been released by the kidnappers in Rafah. The officer said the kidnappers are trying to force the authorities to release their own men who are in jail on criminal charges.
He also said the kidnappers are planning to release another person, from the armed forces, within the next couple of hours to show “good intentions.”
An official from the security forces said joint attempts by military intelligence, general intelligence as well as the national and general security agencies in North Sinai were underway to track down the perpetrators.
Bedouin figures have also helped to facilitate the release process.
Security has been tightened up along the Egypt-Gaza border to prevent the officers being taken out of the country, Al-Ahram Arabic News website reported.
Egyptian authorities have been clamping down on Islamist militants in the peninsula against the backdrop of repeated attacks on security officers as well as on the pipeline that exports gas to Israel and Jordan.
Last August, 16 Egyptian soldiers were killed in an attack by gunmen in Rafah near the Egypt-Gaza border. Earlier in May, gunmen shot dead a man who was selling alcohol in the peninsula in an attack security officials said was likely carried out by Islamist militants.