Israelis in Sinai advised to leave immediately
LAST UPDATED: 11/11/2010 23:19
Travel warning issued by PM's office; information received suggests plans to kidnap Israelis vacationing in the area.
A Beduin man rides a camel on Sinai beach. Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski
A travel warning was issued late Thursday by the Israeli Prime Minister's office, calling on Israelis in Sinai to leave and return to Israel straight away.
The warning quoted "reliable and current intelligence" about a kidnapping plot and called on "all Israelis in Sinai to leave immediately and return to Israel."
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Citing credible
intelligence, the Israeli Counter-Terror Bureau (CTB) sharpened its
advisory against traveling to the Sinai Peninsula also on Thursday evening.
According
to the bureau, Israeli intelligence agencies have received information
regarding plans by the Army of Islam – a Palestinian terror group
affiliated with al Qaida and based in the Gaza Strip – to kidnap
Israelis currently vacationing in the Sinai.
Last
week, the Israei Air Force – acting upon intelligence provided by the
Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) – bombed a car in which 27-year-old
Mohammed Namnam, a top operative with the Army of Islam, was sitting.
According to the Shin Bet, Namnam, from the Shati refugee camp, was
responsible for a number of attacks against Israel in recent years.
The CTB said on Thursday that the assassination of Namnam was part of Israeli efforts to foil the Army of Islam’s plans.
On Wednesday, Time Magazine
claimed that the intelligence on Namnam was provided to Israel by Egypt
whose security forces recently rounded up a number of Army of Islam
operatives in the Sinai.
AP contributed to this report.