Egyptian President al-Sisi orders his military to secure Sinai within three months

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered his military commanders to use all force necessary to secure the lawless Sinai Peninsula within the next three months, following a devastating terror attack that killed more than 300 people and injured many others. No group has claimed responsibility for the terror attack on a mosque, last week, when Islamist militants gunned-down worshippers, but Egyptian forces have been battling an Islamic State affiliate called ‘Willayat Sinai’ for more than three years in the Northern Districts of the Peninsula, where Islamist militants have killed hundreds of Egyptian security forces. Egyptian Authorities claimed that the terrorists carried an Islamic State flag when they opened fire inside the mosque after setting off an explosive, shooting worshippers as they fled, which resulted in the death of more than 300 people, in what was one of the worst terror attacks in Egypt’s modern history. North Sinai, a mostly desert region stretching from the Suez Canal eastwards to the Gaza Strip and Israel, has long been a security challenge for Egypt because of smuggling, yet it is also considered to be a strategic region because of its vast gas reservoirs and its sensitive borders.