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| Africa: North |
| 500 still being held in Sinai blast |
| 2005-08-28 |
| More than 500 Egyptians are being held in connection with a blast that lightly wounded a pair of Canadian peacekeepers two weeks ago in the Sinai peninsula. "Around 200 Sinai residents who were arrested after the blast have already been released," North Sinai member of parliament Mohammed al-Kashef said. "More than 500 other people are still detained for the needs of the investigation... and contacts are under way with the police to obtain their release," he added. Security sources in Cairo confirmed the figures. Two Canadian peacekeepers from the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) were lightly wounded on August 15 in an area of the peninsula not far from the border with the Gaza Strip -- close to the Al-Gurah military airport -- when a homemade bomb struck their vehicle. The MFO is an independent peacekeeping force not related to the United Nations, created as a result of the 1979 Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty and funded mainly by the two neighbours and the United States. Egyptian forces arrested thousands of local Bedouins in the Sinai following the deadly October 7 bombings against Red Sea resorts, several of whom have since complained of torture. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |