Hi Folks,
I found this newsstory in my Yahoo news headlines.
Thank god these women weren't wounded badly, or killed. Every day I read about more soldiers killed over in the war zones and its heartbreaking. ... Karmen
Quote:
Mon Aug 15, 9:34 AM ET
AL-ARISH, Egypt (AFP) - Two Canadian women peacekeepers were wounded in a bomb blast in Egypt's Sinai peninsula that officials described as a terrorist attack.
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"Terrorists planted two gas canisters on the road and linked them to an electrical wire. They hid in nearby apricot groves and blew them up," North Sinai governor Ahmed Abdel Hamid told reporters.
The incident occurred on road about 25 kilometres (15 miles) west of the
Gaza Strip, where Israeli on Monday began its historic operation to pull out from the occupied territory.
Hamid said only one of the bombs exploded and that the other was being examined by ordnance experts, adding that two female Canadian peacekeepers from the Multinational Force and Observers were lightly wounded.
He added that several Bedouin in the area had been arrested. A senior Egyptian security official confirmed the circumstances of the attack.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
The Multinational Force and Observers is an independent peacekeeping force not related to the
United Nations, created as a result of the 1979 Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty and funded mainly by the two neighbors and the United States.
The MFO reported a blast at around 9:00 am (0600 GMT) about one kilometre (half a mile) west of the military airport of Al-Gurah, in the east of the Sinai peninsula.
But it could not immediately confirm the identity of the wounded, nor could the Canadian authorities.
Egyptian security sources had initially said that the explosion may have been caused by a landmine left over from one of the Egypt's wars with
Israel in the Sinai.
The approximately 2,000-strong international military force was set up in 1982, includes troops from 11 different countries, including a large US contingent, and is based in two camps in the Sinai.
When Gaza's 21 Jewish settlements are evacuated and Israeli troops have fully pulled out of the Strip, Palestinian forces will take over security responsibility for the flashpoint territory.
Egypt had played a key role in security arrangements linked to the pullout and has agreed with Israel to take responsibility for security at the border.
Israel fears that cross-border arms smugglers will increase their activity after its troops depart.
A senior Egyptian official had told AFP last week that "the idea of involving the MFO after the Gaza withdrawal is being explored".
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