Gunmen shoot at Sinai police station

The Associated Press

CAIRO -- Gunmen sprayed a police station in Sinai with bullets yesterday, setting off a brief firefight with policemen before speeding away in their truck, the latest in a series of attacks against security forces in the increasingly volatile peninsula, security officials said.

The military, meanwhile, sent more armored and other army vehicles to boost its strength in a hunt for militants following a deadly weekend attack that killed 16 Egyptian soldiers.

The security officials said army engineers were making preparations to destroy or shut an elaborate underground tunnel network linking Sinai and Gaza that is used to smuggle weapons, people and basic goods to circumvent border restrictions imposed against the Hamas-controlled territory by Israel and Egypt.

The lawlessness in northern Sinai, which borders Gaza and Israel, reached a new level with Sunday's attack on an Egyptian military border post. The attackers killed the 16 soldiers as they were breaking their daily fast for the holy month of Ramadan with a sunset meal. They then commandeered an armored vehicle, which they used later to storm across the border into Israel, where an Israeli airstrike killed at least six of them.

The attack has rattled the Egyptian government, prompting the new Islamist president to sack the intelligence chief for failing to act on an Israeli warning of an imminent attack just days before. President Mohammed Morsi also sacked the northern Sinai governor.

The military also announced an offensive in Sinai designed to weed out the militants who have used the security vacuum in the desert region to spread their influence. In a sharp escalation, Egyptian warplanes struck against suspected militant hideouts on Wednesday, but there were no official reports of deaths or arrests.

The United States voiced support for Egypt's efforts to improve security in the peninsula and vowed more counterterrorism cooperation with its longtime ally.