Security forces have closed the Tuesday market of the North Sinai town of Sheikh Zuweid as a “precautionary” measure over fears of a terrorist attack.
The closure was unprecedented for the market which every Tuesday welcomes thousands of residents to buy their daily needs.
Mohammed Mansour, a vegetable seller, said around 150 sellers arrive to the market facility each Monday to arrange their products for the next day.
But they were surprised by the market’s closure, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.
He revealed that he has been selling vegetables at the market for the past 20 years. But that the vendors accepted the decision of the authorities to preserve their lives.
A local teacher, Mustafa Hassan, says that around 10,000 people visit the market each Tuesday.
This week, the market was getting ready to sell goods on the occasion of Eid al-Adha, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.
On April 9, seven people including four police personnel were killed when a suicide bomber targeted police near the market, Egypt’s interior ministry said in a statement.
The attacker was around 15 years old, the ministry said, and a six-year-old was among the dead.
The attack happened when security forces were conducting a sweep near the market, the statement said.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack and identified the attacker as Abu Hagar al-Masry, saying he had detonated an explosive vest when he was near a police foot patrol.
Sheikh Zuweid witnessed a terrorist attack last month too. A policeman was killed when the army thwarted a suicide attack at a parking lot near a security checkpoint, the armed forces spokesman said.
A security source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the decision to close the Tuesday market was aimed at cutting the road to any attempt by terrorist elements to infiltrate a large gathering of residents.
