Sinai attack defendants to be named

Egypt's new Minister of Defence, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has stated that the name of defendants suspected to be involved in the Sinai peninsula attacks that saw 16 Egyptian border guards being killed will be revealed "within days". Egyptian television broadcasted Sisi’s visit to the troubled region, where the attack close to Egypt's Rafah crossing with Gaza prompted a large scale military campaign to weed out extremist militants from the region. Sisi met with Sinai tribal leaders and political and security officials in northern Sinai. The defence chief also said that the security campaign shall "continue to cleanse Sinai of terrorist hotbeds". Sisi, who replaced former military leader Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi two weeks ago, said that achieving security and stability was a mutual responsibility between security services, citizens and sheikhs. He stressed on the need for cooperation with security services in tracking outlaws and reporting them, as well as educating citizens with the seriousness of what is happening in Sinai. "The attacks there aim at targeting national security and the campaign is to direct reform and cooperation with the security services in order to achieve stability in the governorate," he said. "We have erred in Sinai and neglected its development. We are not against Islamist movements, but we are against armed militants that harm innocent people and terrorise citizens. We will cut off hands which carry arms. We will not allow Sinai to be a fertile ground for militants," he stated. The defence minister said that tribesmen in Sinai had stated they would always be the protectors of Egypt's eastern borders. He pointed out that the next stage required more cooperation with security services to quash the militant threat.