Four passengers were abducted when terrorists attacked a bus carrying Palestinians in the Sinai on Wednesday. ISIS is the main suspect.
Palestinians faced terror on Wednesday in the Sinai when terrorists fired upon a bus they were traveling in and four passengers were snatched.
The Hamas terror group, which rules the Gaza Strip, stated that gunmen abducted four Palestinians in neighboring Sinai after intercepting a bus bound for Cairo airport.
The Hamas interior ministry said the Palestinian travelers had crossed from Gaza into Egypt late Wednesday on the third day of the partial opening of Rafah crossing point.
Witnesses told The Associated Press that several masked terrorists opened fire in the air and stopped the bus half an hour after it rolled into the restive peninsula. They grabbed four youths and fled the scene.
The witnesses — Palestinians who were on the bus — preferred not to disclose their names, fearing retribution. They said they believed the terrorists to be from the Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group. There is no confirmation of this information, and further circumstances surrounding the incident are still unclear.
Hamas officials are trying to determine who the assailants are.
“We are currently holding urgent meetings with high-ranking Egyptian officials in order to try and understand the circumstances that led to the incident. We are also trying to find out where the missing residents are,” Iyad al-Bazm, Hamas’ interior minister in Gaza, stated. “We call upon the Egyptian interior minister to guarantee the safety of the kidnapped passengers and bring to their release.”
Bazm said the bus was escorted by Egyptian soldiers when it was ambushed. The Egyptian military and Ministry of Interior have declined to officially comment on the incident.
The Egyptian media reports that the passports of the four abductees were found in the vicinity of the attack. They were identified as members of Hamas. Hamas and the ISIS affiliate in Gaza have been battling each other over recent months.
By: AP and United with Israel Staff
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