CAIRO, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Egyptian security forces have rounded up 31 wanted suspects in cases of terrorism and arms smuggling in a large-scale combing operation in the Sinai.
An official security source told United Press International Wednesday that the operation, in which hundreds of policemen took part, targeted rugged mountainous areas south and northwest of the city of Arish in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula.
He said the operation started Saturday and went on for several days during which 31 suspects were captured and large quantities of explosives were seized.
Egyptian police have carried out several raids in north Sinai in recent months to curb smuggling of arms and explosives to the Gaza Strip.
More than 120 people were killed between October 2004 and April 2006 in a series of bombing attacks which rocked several tourist resorts in the peninsula, dealing a painful blow to Egypt's tourism industry, a main foreign currency earner.
Egypt said several members of the Jihad and Tawheed Organization, which claimed responsibility for the Sinai attacks, received military training in Gaza.
