Egyptian police: land mines, bombs found buried in Sinai desert

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Police have found more than a 100 land mines and nine bombs hidden in the northern Sinai desert, a security officer said Monday. Authorities believe Islamic militants had buried the explosives, but no militants were in the vicinity when the police, acting on a tip, uncovered the cache, said the northern Sinai security official. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the land mines and bombs had been stashed in sacks buried a few meters in soil about 40 kilometers to the west of the Egyptian-Israeli border. Islamic terrorists have carried out three major bomb attacks in the Sinai since October 2004. The blasts in the resorts of Sharm el-Sheik, Taba and Dahab killed 125 people. The government blamed the attacks on a local Islamic militant group, which appears to have been inspired by al-Qaida ideology.