Report Blames Hamas for Egypt Soldier Killings
A report by a state-owned Egyptian weekly magazine on Thursday accused the Palestinian militant movement Hamas of carrying out one of the bloodiest attacks against the Egyptian army in years — the killing 16 of soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula in August 2012. Hamas' military wing angrily accused Egypt's state media of spreading "flagrant lies."
It was not possible to verify contents of the report. The magazine Al-Ahram al-Araby is closely connected to security agencies, and Egypt's military currently has a strained relationship with President Mohammed Morsi, who hails from the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood group from which Hamas is an offshoot.
Military officers have been issuing thinly veiled warnings that the armed forces might return to the politics. Morsi's government has been shaken by a bitter conflict with the opposition and by economic shortages, but security in the Sinai is a particular sensitivity. After the August attack, Morsi sacked a number of top military and intelligence chiefs.
The mountainous peninsula is beset with several interrelated security challenges, including a long-running Islamist insurgency that has intensified since Egypt's 2011 uprising and Bedouin-run smuggling networks.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/report-blames-hamas-egypt-soldier-killings-18730280