CAIRO, May 31 (UPI) -- Egyptian police arrested 15 gunmen, including two wanted suspects in the terrorist bombings that hit the Sinai Peninsula since 2004.
Police chief in northern Sinai, Maj. Gen. Adel Fawzi, said Wednesday that police seized Youssef Hammad, 22, and Mohammed Hadi, 27, near the crossing of Rafah between Egypt and Gaza Strip.
Fawzi described the two suspects as "main elements" in the Organization of Jihad and Tawheed, which the Egyptian government say is responsible for a spate of bombings that rocked Sinai since 2004, claiming the lives of more than 120 people.
The Egyptian interior ministry said last week that Palestinian Muslim extremists trained and financed the Egyptian terrorist group which carried out the Sinai bombings.
It said the leader of the group which carried out last month's attack on Dahab resort, Nasser Khamis, who was killed a few weeks ago, sent the suicide bombers to Gaza for training on the use of arms and explosives.
The ministry also pointed out that a Palestinian code-named Abu Suleiman financed the terrorist attacks in Sinai since 2004, while another Palestinian identified as Majed Diri was in charge of training the bombers.
Palestinian foreign minister in the Hamas-led government Mahmoud Zahhar denied any connection of Hamas and Islamic Jihad with the bombings saying they are the work of individual extremists.
The Organization of Jihad and Tawheed is believed to be linked ideologically with al-Qaida, especially the network's leader in Iraq Abu Musab Zarqawi.
The interior ministry also said 12 people wanted in connection with Sinai bombings surrendered to police during the current month.
