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UPDATE 5: 16 Egyptian soldiers killed at Israel border

Egypt President Mohamed Morsi says 'perpetrators will be punished'; Hamas condemns blast; unconfirmed reports 'Islamists' orchestrated episode

Attacks by unknown assailants on Egyptian border guard in the turmoil-hit Sinai left at least 16 dead and seven injured on Sunday, with Egyptian and Palestinian authorities responding fast to the incident.

According to media reports on Sunday evening, the attack involved a military vehicle, reportedly hijacked earlier, which exploded around 7pm. Others were injured after the attackers opened fire on them.

Investigations by authorities into the attack have been immediately opened as no group has claimed responsibility yet.

However, the Egyptian state TV claimed that elements of Islamic extremist groups situated in the Sinai peninsula had carried out the attack by iftar (the hour when people have their meal that breaks the fast during Ramadan), but provided no details.

An anonymous Egyptian security official was quoted by Egypt's state-run news agency, MENA, as saying that Islamist elements who infiltrated Egypt from the Gaza Strip through tunnels are behind the attacks, along with other Islamists situated in the areas of El-Halal Mountain and El-Mahdia in eastern Sinai.

For their side, however, Gaza strip rulers Hamas stressed it has not been involved in the attacks, saying it would never infiltrate Egypt’s borders nor use its weapons against its army in the wake of a deadly attack that left 15 Egyptian soldiers dead on Sunday.

"Hamas has nothing to do with the border tensions. On the contrary, it cares about the Egyptian national security and would never use weapons against the Egyptian army," the faction’s senior leader Mahmoud Al-Zahar told Ahram Online.

Infuriated at the incident, hundreds of Rafah residents (on the Egyptian side of the Egypt-Gaza border) gathered at the Sadat Square and blocked the road, preventing trucks heading to the port of Rafah and tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip.

Some of the protesters told Al-Ahram's Arabic news portal that they refuse seeing the Egyptian army insulted, and that they would sacrifice their blood "to defend the Egyptian soldiers."

The site also reported that hundreds more headed to the Arish hospital, where the injured soldiers were admitted, to donate blood.

Back in Cairo, according to Egypt's health ministry, at least 15 Egyptian soldiers were killed and seven injured in the explosion that went off at a military zone on Sunday, near the city of Rafah, according to Al-Ahram Arabic-language news portal.

Later on, Egyptian state TV reported the death toll has risen to 16.

Ahmed El-Ansari, vice-president of the health ministry-affiliated Egyptian Ambulance Organisation, said that those injured in Sunday's attacks near Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip had been rushed to a hospital in the nearby city of Al-Arish.

According to state news agency MENA, El-Ansari also said that the injured had suffered bullets wounds to the head, chest and arms.

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has held an emergency meeting with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), the chief of intelligence, and the interior minister to discuss the deadly attacks.

"The martyrs' blood will not be in vain… Orders were given to the armed forces to take strict measures to impose full control on Sinai," Morsi told Egyptian state TV after the meeting.

"Those who did this will be punished, everyone will see how the new procedures will be like," he added.

Egypt's presidential office echoed the same sentiments, stated that those responsible for the attacks on Egyptian border guard in Sinai will be punished for their actions as their crime will not be tolerated.

"The security apparatuses are working in full power to reveal the identities of the culprits of the attacks executed in Rafah soon," presidential office spokesman Yasser Ali told Egyptian state TV.

The Admin of the Official Page of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the second official page of the SCAF, published a more strong-worded statement, vowing that the death of Egyptian soldiers will be avenged.

"Those are religion-less and infidels; the days have proven that only force will stop them. Anyone who has harmed our armed forces will pay the price," read the post on the page, which was titled "We swear to God that we will avenge."

Since Egypt's 2011 uprising, the country has witnessed vast security vacuum, especially in Sinai where a gas pipeline – which used to carry gas through Sinai into Israel and Jordan – was blown up fifteen times since the revolt.

Gaza's Hamas denies involvement in Egypt border attacks

Resistance faction Hamas says it had nothing to do with deadly Sunday attack on Egypt's border with Gaza Strip that left at least 16 Egyptian border guards dead

Palestinian resistance faction Hamas, which has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007, has declared that it would never infiltrate Egypt's borders nor use weapons against Egyptian military personnel. The statements came in the wake of a deadly attack near Egypt's border with the besieged strip that left 16 Egyptian soldiers dead on Sunday.

According to the Egyptian health ministry, seven soldiers were also injured in the attack, carried out at a military zone near the city of Rafah, which straddles the Egypt-Gaza border.

No group has claimed responsibility for the incident, but an Egyptian security official pointed the finger at "Jihadist militants," according to state-run news agency MENA.

"Hamas has nothing to do with the border tensions," Hamas senior leader Mahmoud Al-Zahar told Ahram Online. "On the contrary, Hamas cares about Egypt's national security and would never use weapons against the Egyptian army." 

"No Hamas fighter would ever go to Egypt without permission. They go there for medical treatment, not for any other purpose," he added.

Al-Zahar went on to condemn Sunday's attack.

"We have the right to be armed, but our weapons would never kill Egyptians," he said. "Throughout its history, Hamas neither harmed Egypt's national security nor that of any other Arab country."

"Some people, who are spreading false rumours about Egypt's Islamist current to weaken it during the election period, are trying to drag us into a conflict," he added. "But we would never authorise anyone to attack an Egyptian soldier."

"Those who say Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has surrendered Sinai to Hamas want to undermine Egypt," Al-Zahar concluded.

An army source told Ahram Online that Rafah was currently in a state of alert, but declined to provide details.

Egypt's Sinai Peninsula has sunk into a state of lawlessness since last year's Tahrir Square uprising, which ended Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule. Since then, Islamists have reportedly spread across the peninsula’s northern region, allegedly carrying out attacks on police stations and repeatedly bombing a pipeline carrying gas to Israel and Jordan – although the perpetrators of these attacks were never caught nor identified.

Egyptian presidency vows harsh response to Sinai attacks

Mohamed Morsi's office says that those who attacked Egyptian soldiers in Sinai on Sunday will be punished

Egypt's presidential office stated that those responsible for the attacks on Egyptian border guard in Sinai will be punished for their actions as their crime will not be tolerated.

The office also offered condolences to the families of the Egyptian troopers who were killed, and wished the injured a quick recovery.

According to the Egyptian state TV, the death toll has rising to 16, the injured are seven.

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has already met with members of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to discuss the situation.

Israel to close Karam Abu Salem Gaza-Israel crossing

Occupation authorities announce plans to close Karam Abu Salem crossing between Israel and southern Gaza Strip on Monday in wake of Sunday's border attacks on Egyptian soldiers

Following two attacks near Egypt's border with the besieged Gaza Strip, Israeli occupation forces on Sunday evening declared their intention to close the Karam Abu Salem border crossing between Israel and the southern Gaza Strip on Monday.

Ra'ed Fotouh, coordinator of the Egyptian committee devoted to the entry of commercial goods into the Gaza Strip, reported that Israeli officials had informed him that the crossing would be closed until further notice in the wake of Sunday's border attacks.

The Israeli media, meanwhile, has reported that Israeli occupation forces had killed three would-be infiltrators who had attempted to breach the crossing following the attacks.

Eyewitnesses have reported seeing Israeli armoured vehicles east of the Karam Abu Salem region and west of the Gaza Airport, which, they say, fired a series of artillery shells in the direction of the southern Gaza Strip. 

 MOSSAD/CIA