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Egypt Executes Militant for Plotting Deadly Attack

Military forces are seen in North Sinai, Egypt, December 1, 2017. (Reuters)
Military forces are seen in North Sinai, Egypt, December 1, 2017. (Reuters)
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Egypt Executes Militant for Plotting Deadly Attack

Military forces are seen in North Sinai, Egypt, December 1, 2017. (Reuters)
Military forces are seen in North Sinai, Egypt, December 1, 2017. (Reuters)

Egypt on Saturday executed a Libyan militant convicted of plotting an attack that killed at least 16 police officers in 2017, the military said.

Abdel-Rahim al-Mosmari was hanged in a Cairo prison after a military appeals court upheld his death sentence last week, the military said. The deadly attack southwest of the Egyptian capital took place in October 2017.

Al-Mosmari was arrested a month after the attack. He was tried by a military court and sentenced to death in November last year.

The court also sentenced 15 other defendants for their involvement in the attack, including 10 in absentia, to life in prison. Another 17 got 5- to 15-year sentences.

Al-Mosmari was from Libya’s eastern city of Derna, which served as a safe haven for years for militant groups before the Libyan National Army, commanded by Khalifa Hafter, took control of it early in 2018.

The defendants were accused of plotting and taking part in the 2017 attack on police forces as they raided the militants' hideout.

The attack took place in the al-Wahat al-Bahriya area, about 135 kilometers from Cairo. The area is the gateway into Egypt’s vast Western Desert which leads to strife-torn Libya.

For years, authorities have considered the area an infiltration path for smugglers and militants, and have blamed some past attacks on extremists transiting through.

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MSF Suspends Operations at Key Hospital in Sudan's Capital

FILE - South Sudanese people sit outside a nutrition clinic at a transit center in Renk, South Sudan, on May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)
FILE - South Sudanese people sit outside a nutrition clinic at a transit center in Renk, South Sudan, on May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)
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MSF Suspends Operations at Key Hospital in Sudan's Capital

FILE - South Sudanese people sit outside a nutrition clinic at a transit center in Renk, South Sudan, on May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)
FILE - South Sudanese people sit outside a nutrition clinic at a transit center in Renk, South Sudan, on May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)

Medical aid agency MSF said on Friday it has been forced to suspend its activities at one of the few remaining hospitals in southern Khartoum due to repeated attacks, cutting off yet another lifeline for those who remain in the Sudanese capital.
War has been raging in Sudan since April 2023, sparked by a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule, triggering the world's largest displacement and hunger crisis.
The hospital, which lies in territory controlled by the RSF, helped treat the victims of frequent airstrikes by the Sudanese Armed Forces, as well as hundreds of malnourished women and children in an area where two neighborhoods have been judged at risk of famine, reported Reuters.
"In the 20 months MSF teams have worked alongside hospital staff and volunteers, Bashair Hospital has experienced repeated incidents of armed fighters entering the hospital with weapons and threatening medical staff, often demanding fighters be treated before other patients," MSF said in a statement.
"Despite extensive engagements with all stakeholders, these attacks have continued in recent months. MSF has now taken the very difficult decision to suspend all medical activities in the hospital."
The fighting in Sudan has cut off up to 80% of hospitals in conflict areas, where millions who cannot afford to escape the violence remain. Civilians face frequent air and artillery fire and hunger as supplies are blocked by both warring parties and prices skyrocket.
Medical facilities, including MSF-supported ones that have suspended operations, have frequently come under attack by RSF soldiers demanding treatment or looting supplies. Bashair Hospital has served more than 25,000 people, MSF said, including 9,000 hurt by blasts, gunshot wounds, and other violence.
"Sometimes dozens of people arrived at the hospital at the same time after shelling or airstrikes on residential areas and markets," MSF said in the statement, citing an incident on Sunday where an airstrike one kilometer away drove 50 people to the emergency room, 12 of them already dead.