Egypt condemns 14 to death for 2011 Sinai attack

An Egyptian court sentenced to death on Tuesday 14 people it said were Islamist militants for a deadly attack on a police station in North Sinai last year, a court official said. The ruling may add to tension in the volatile region bordering Israel, where fighting between security forces and militants has intensified since August 5 when 16 border guards were killed in an attack blamed on Islamist groups. The condemned men were convicted for attacking a police station in north Sinai's main town of El Arish in July 2011, killing an army officer, five police officers and a civilian, the court said, according to Reuters. Footage from inside the court showed bearded defendants, wearing the white overalls issued to detainees, standing or sitting in a metal cage. One was brought into court in a wheelchair. Six of the condemned men were present in court, others convicted in absentia. They were all accused of being members of Al Tawhid Wal Jihad, one of the banned groups being targeted in a security crackdown on militants in the desert peninsula. The same court, in the city of Ismailia, on the west bank of the Suez Canal, will rule on September 24 on another 11 defendants, also accused of being part of the group that was blamed for bombing tourist resorts in Sinai in 2004 and 2005. Thirteen of the 25 defendants in the two cases were tried in absentia as they are not in Egyptian custody, Reuters reported. Three bombings, targeting Israeli tourists at an Egyptian Red Sea hotel, killed 34 people in October 2004. More than 80 people were killed and 200 injured when suspected car bombs rocked the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh in July 2005. The group kept a low profile after its founders were killed by police following those bombings but had a resurgence after a popular uprising overthrew president Hosni Mubarak 18 months ago and members of the group fled prison and began to regroup, security experts and residents in Sinai say. Meanwhile, Agence France-Presse reported from Cairo on Tuesday that Egypt's security forces exchanged fire with militants in the Sinai Peninsula, as the military continued its campaign against Islamists in the lawless region. A patrol comprising army soldiers and police came under attack from unidentified gunmen and fired back, security sources said, adding that there were no casualties or arrests reported, according to AFP. The army has strengthened its presence in Sinai, sending helicopters and tanks in pursuit of Islamist extremists believed to be behind the August 5 attack. On Sunday, Egyptian security forces killed six gunmen in a raid on a north Sinai village, witnesses said. Security officials said they found chemicals used to make explosives, rocket-propelled grenades and machineguns with the militants in El Jurah village. One of the gunmen was seriously wounded, they said. From JT