Israeli drone strike kills suspected Islamic militants in Egypt

Attack on Sinai peninsula came a day after Israel briefly closed its nearby airport in the Red Sea resort of Eilat

theguardian.com, Friday 9 August 2013

The drone attack in the Sinai could signal a significant new level of security cooperation between former foes Israel and Egypt. Photograph: Ariel Schalit/AP

 

"An Israeli drone strike killed five suspected Islamic militants and destroyed a rocket launcher in Egypt's largely lawless Sinai Peninsula on Friday, two senior Egyptian security officials said, describing a rare Israeli operation carried out in its Arab neighbour's territory.....

Israel maintained official silence about the strike, suggesting that if the Jewish state was involved, it might be trying to avoid embarrassing the Egyptian military.......

An Israeli drone attack in the Sinai could signal a significant new level of security cooperation between the two former foes following a military coup that ousted Egypt's president, Mohamed Morsi, last month. The military has alleged that Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood movement had turned a blind eye to Islamic militants in the Sinai......

The Egyptian security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to release the information, said the Israeli attack was launched in cooperation with Egyptian authorities despite past insistence that the government would not allow other countries to use its territories to launch attacks........."