'Egypt arrests 25 plotting attacks against Israelis'

Palestinian news agency reports terror cell planned to carry out attacks on Israeli tourists in Sinai peninsula.

Sinai311 (photo credit: Steve Linde)
Sinai311
(photo credit: Steve Linde)
Egyptian security forces on Thursday arrested 25 members of a terror cell who allegedly intended to carry out attacks on Israeli tourists in Sinai, Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported.
The terrorists were residents of the Egyptian cities of El-Arish, Sheikh Zuwaid and Rafah, according to the report.
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The arrests came following a week long police operation. According to Ma'an, some of those arrested admitted to being part of a terrorist organization.
Earlier on Thursday, Time magazine reported that Egyptian intelligence operatives gave Israel information that led to last week's Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) assassination of an al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist outside Hamas security headquarters in Gaza City.
Mohammed Namnam, 27, a top operative with the Army of Islam, was killed by a missile shot at his car from an Israeli helicopter.
Egyptian intelligence reportedly discovered that Namnam was preparing an attack on US forces in the Sinai Desert from other Army of Islam members captured in the Sinai.
An Egyptian security source told Time that this is an unprecedented level of cooperation between Egyptian and Israeli intelligence.
Time posited that the shared intelligence was a result of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's anger after 49 Hizbullah operatives were reportedly found plotting against Egypt in Sinai.
Shin Bet confirmed the assassination shortly after it occurred, adding that Namnam had been involved in the 2006 abduction of Gilad Schalit.