Non-Egyptian National Involved in ‘Oasis’ Attack

People carry the coffin of Egyptian police officer Ahmed Fayez, who was attacked with other security forces by militants in Egypt's western desert, in El Hosary Mosque outside Cairo, Egypt, on October 21 (Reuters photo)
People carry the coffin of Egyptian police officer Ahmed Fayez, who was attacked with other security forces by militants in Egypt's western desert, in El Hosary Mosque outside Cairo, Egypt, on October 21 (Reuters photo)
TT

Non-Egyptian National Involved in ‘Oasis’ Attack

People carry the coffin of Egyptian police officer Ahmed Fayez, who was attacked with other security forces by militants in Egypt's western desert, in El Hosary Mosque outside Cairo, Egypt, on October 21 (Reuters photo)
People carry the coffin of Egyptian police officer Ahmed Fayez, who was attacked with other security forces by militants in Egypt's western desert, in El Hosary Mosque outside Cairo, Egypt, on October 21 (Reuters photo)

Egypt revealed details concerning the horrifying terror ambush in the Western Sahara which killed a number of police officers last October. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said that all members affiliated with the responsible terror cell have been killed save for a single assailant.

According to Sisi, the attacker was a non-Egyptian national without disclosing further information.

Sisi said that the media would be handed further information on the face behind the 14th terrorist taken in alive.

More so, the President said that the intensifying attacks targeting the oasis zone had pushed for more stringent security measures to fail and surging of new terror cells.

In the same vein, security experts and strategists said that “Egypt provides its western borders around-the-clock air support, ground border guards and satellites”.

Consequently, terrorists suffered great losses.

Strategists added that “the large number of weapons seized from terrorists during recently suggests large funding.”

The interior ministry said security forces hunting down terrorists in the region were attacked on a road to the Bahariya oasis in the country's Western Desert, some 200 kilometers southwest of Cairo.

An official statement said a number of the attackers were killed, but did not give any figures for losses on either side.

A deadly attack on the police in Egypt's Western Desert was claimed by a new militant group risks opening up another front for security forces far beyond the remote northern Sinai, where they have battled a stubborn ISIS terror group since 2014.

A little-known group called Ansar Al Islam claimed responsibility for the October 21 attack. Analysts and security sources said the heavy weapons and tactics employed indicated ties to ISIS or more likely a Qaeda brigade led by Hesham Al Ashmawy, a former Egyptian special forces officer turned extremist.

Authorities have been fighting the Egyptian branch of the ISIS group, which has increased its attacks in the north of the Sinai peninsula more than 500 kilometers away from the latest violence.
In response to the latest bloodshed Egyptian security forces appeared to step up their operations in the area of the attack.

The Muslim Brotherhood remains to be the other ultra-hardline group threatening Egyptian security next to ISIS.



Iraq's Population Reaches 45.4 Million in First Census in over 30 Years

Workers prepare to collect information from the public as Iraq began its first nationwide population census in decades, in Baghdad, Iraq Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP)
Workers prepare to collect information from the public as Iraq began its first nationwide population census in decades, in Baghdad, Iraq Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP)
TT

Iraq's Population Reaches 45.4 Million in First Census in over 30 Years

Workers prepare to collect information from the public as Iraq began its first nationwide population census in decades, in Baghdad, Iraq Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP)
Workers prepare to collect information from the public as Iraq began its first nationwide population census in decades, in Baghdad, Iraq Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (AP)

Iraq's population has risen to 45.4 million, according to preliminary results from a national census, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said on Monday.
The census, conducted on Nov. 20, was Iraq's first nationwide survey in more than three decades, marking a crucial step for future planning and development.
Prior to the census, the planning ministry estimated the population at 43 million.
The last census, conducted in 1997, did not include the Iraqi Kurdistan region, which has been under Kurdish administration since the 1991 Gulf War.
It counted 19 million Iraqis and officials estimated there were another 3 million in the Kurdish north, according to official statistics.