Egypt's abducted soldiers released without compromises

The process of releasing the seven Egyptian abducted soldiers has accomplished without any compromises, deals or promises to kidnappers, Egyptian presidential spokesman told reporters on Wednesday. "The presidency formed a tripartite commission of the highest level from the armed forces, the police and the general intelligence, which set up a complete roadmap to manage the crisis, " presidential spokesman Ehab Fahmi said at a joint news conference with army and police spokesmen. "We congratulate all Egyptians on the complete success of the army, the intelligence and the police in freeing our abducted soldiers," Fahmi added. For his part, armed forces spokesman Colonel Ahmed Mohamed Ali said that the military procedures including inspections and combings in North Sinai over the past 48 hours "had a decisive role" in rendering the intelligence efforts successful. "There has been unprecedented strong presence for the armed forces in Sinai since the crisis started," Ali told reporters, noting that the military adopted tricky tactics and leaked contradictory reports to the media about the security operations to mislead the abductors. The military spokesman also commended the role of chiefs of Sinai tribes and their cooperation with the military intelligence during the crisis. With regards to the smuggling tunnels at Sinai borders with Gaza, Ali revealed that the military managed to destroy 287 of them since August 2012, and that other 28 tunnels are on the way for closure. The interior ministry spokesman Hani Abdel-Latif said the successful operation was not the end, and that the police would continue pursuing the criminal dens in Sinai. The seven Egyptian soldiers have been kidnapped in North Sinai since Thursday morning by a group of militants believed to belong to the extremist Jihadist group. They have been freed on Wednesday morning and President Mohamed Morsi, Defense Minister Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, Prime Minister Hesham Qandil, Military Chief of Staff Sedqui Sobhy and other senior officials gave them a warm welcome at a military airport in Cairo.