Egypt: Explosives, bombs found in northern Sinai

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Security police have found more than 700 kilograms of TNT explosive and four roadside bombs in the northern Sinai desert, a police officer said Monday. The TNT had been stashed in sacks. The police, acting on a tip-off, also found gas cylinders and steel tubes that had been filled with TNT and connected to detonators, ready to be used as roadside bombs, Capt. Mohammed Badr of the North Sinai police said. It is thought that Islamic militants had buried the explosives, but no militants were in the vicinity when the stash was found. Islamic militants have carried out three major bomb attacks in 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.