“Terrorism will be defeated quicker if all countries are united in taking action against it,” an Israeli official stated following the deadly terror attack in Egypt.
Israel on Saturday issued a strong condemnation of the deadly terrorist attack in the al-Wahat al-Bahriya area in Egypt, in which at least 54 policemen, including 20 officers and 34 conscripts, were killed when a raid on a terrorist hideout southwest of Cairo was ambushed earlier in the day.
Israel “sends condolences on behalf of the people of Israel to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and the people of Egypt, and sends wishes for a quick recovery to the injured,” the Israeli official stated.
“There is no difference between the terrorism that strikes in Egypt and the terrorism that strikes in other countries,” the statement stressed, while underscoring that “terrorism will be defeated quicker if all countries are united in taking action against it.”
The deadly ambush began on Friday evening when security forces acting on intelligence moved against a terrorist hideout in the al-Wahat al-Bahriya area in Giza province, about 135 kilometers (84 miles) southwest of Cairo. Backed by armored personnel carriers and led by senior counterterrorism officers, the police contingent drew fire and rocket-propelled grenades.
What happened next is not clear, but it appears that the force likely ran out of ammunition and that the terrorists captured several policemen and later killed them.
Those killed included two police brigadier-generals, a colonel and 10 lieutenant colonels.
The last time Egypt’s security forces suffered such a heavy loss of life was in July 2015 when Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists carried out a series of coordinated attacks, including suicide bombings, against army and police positions in the Sinai Peninsula, killing at least 50.
No terrorist group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which bore all the ISIS hallmarks. A local affiliate of the terror group is spearheading an insurgency whose epicenter is in the Sinai Peninsula, which borders Israel and the Gaza Strip.
The US condemned the attack in a statement issued by the State Department, offering “profound condolences to the families of the deceased and the government and people of Egypt … at this difficult time.”
By: United with Israel Staff
AP contributed to this report.
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