'Egypt held 3 rocket attack suspects'

Report: Security forces arrested terror squad days before attacks.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Aqaba Rocket 311 (photo credit: Associated Press)
Aqaba Rocket 311
(photo credit: Associated Press)
Egyptian security forces arrested three suspected terrorists in Sinai five days before the rocket attacks that took place in the Gulf of Eilat area, according to an Al-Sharq-Al-Awsat newspaper report. The six rockets that were fired last week killed one and wounded three more at the Intercontinental Hotel in Aqaba.
According to the report by the London-based Arabic newspaper, security forces in Sinai stopped the men with bomb making equipment and explosives.
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No official evidence has been found linking the three men to the rocket attacks but Egyptian sources have indicated that there had been a connection.
Al-Sharq-Al-Awsat reported that the suspects were not carrying any proof of identification at the time they were arrested.
An Egyptian official said that authorities questioned the suspects regarding their involvement with the rocket attacks on Eilat and Aqaba, according to the report.
News of the arrests was initially withheld by Egyptian authorities because of fears that terror threats would harm the summer tourism season, Al-Sharq-Al-Awsat reported.
The Al-Sharq-Al-Awsat report came a day after Hamas accused Israel of launching the rockets as a pretext for further attacks against the Palestinians.
The terrorist group denied being behind the attacks, saying it had "no interest" in launching the rockets, also denying they were fired from the Sinai in Egypt.
Both Israel and Egypt blamed the attacks on Hamas, who denied any involvement.
“We investigated these two incidents. It is clear to us beyond any doubt that in both incidents a cell of Hamas’s military wing in Gaza surreptitiously fired the missiles,” Netanyahu said. “I want to be clear: Using the territory of a third country — a peaceful one — in order to launch missiles against Israel won’t help Hamas escape responsibility.”
AP, Khaled Abu Toameh and Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report