Sinai blasts hit peacekeeping force

One New Zealand and one Norwegian soldier lightly wounded in twin blasts.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Twin explosions Wednesday rocked an area just outside a Sinai Peninsula base that houses a multinational peacekeeping force made up mostly of Canadian soldiers, two days after triple blasts hit a nearby Sinai tourist resort. Two suicide bombers reportedly carried out the attacks, while Egyptian security officials said that a New Zealand soldier, a Norwegian soldier, and two Egyptian policemen were lightly wounded in the bombings. A spokesman for the Multinational Force and Observers in Cairo refused to immediately comment on the blast, which was caused by an explosives-laden vehicle that detonated near the force. The blast hit outside the air base where the multinational force is headquartered in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, near the Egyptian side of Rafiah on the Gaza-Egypt border. It came two days after a Monday night bomb killed at least 24 people at the popular southern Sinai resort of Dahab. At almost the exact same time Wednesday, a car carrying terrorists was stopped by Palestinian Authority Police at the Karni goods crossing on the Israel-Gaza border. Three terrorists were wounded in the incident after an exchange of gunfire with the PA security forces. The force was set up as part of the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt in 1981 that led to Israel's withdrawal from the Sinai. It is partially paid for by the US and has US advisers, although its troops are drawn from several countries, including Canada, the United States and others.