Egypt’s newly-appointed interior minister on Friday made a series of appointments to top security posts as his country battles militants who seek to topple the Cairo government, Al Arabia reported.General Magdi Abdel Ghaffar appointed new people to the posts of assistant minister for the national security division as well as the assistant minister for the Sinai region, the northern part of which is the epicentre of an Islamist insurgency, Reuters quoted state news agency MENA as saying. Replacements were also made to the post of assistant minister for the general security department and heads of security in Cairo, Giza and a number of other governorates.
On Thursday, Egypt replaced the powerful Interior Minister Mohammad Ibrahim who spearheaded a deadly crackdown on supporters of ousted president Mohammad Mursi and the latest anti-terrorism campaign across the country. The removal of Ibrahim, who was appointed by Mursi, follows mounting criticism of the failure of security forces to prevent militant attacks that have surged since the Islamist leader's ouster in 2013.
Ibrahim himself survived an assassination attempt in September 2013 while on way to his office in the capital.