Al-Salafiya Al-Jihadiya accused the army and police of intentionally misleading the public concerning developments in Sinai in a statement issued on Wednesday.
Under the title “Lying Agents”, the group accused the army of creating “naïve fabrications” concerning reported arrests and security operations in the volatile peninsula. The statement also blamed the army for “covering up acts of treason…and crimes committed against the people of Sinai, which reflect disregard for the blood of the people and their money and property.”
Al-Salafiya Al-Jihadiya said that state-owned media “promoted false victories” in the region, overlooking unwarranted aggression by security forces against residents of the area.
The statement denied reports from the armed forces that a military operation earlier this week left eight militants dead, instead claiming that security forces had carried out arrests against people with no connection to aggression, adding that death tolls in operations in Sinai are deliberately exaggerated.
The armed forces’ alleged crimes, according to the group, were “indications” that the army had betrayed Muslims.
“I think it is clear as to what is happening in the Sinai,” said spokesman of the armed forces Colonel Ahmed Ali in response to the statement. “They are trying to attack military and police forces and we don’t accept this.”
“No religion around the world encourages the murder of military and police forces,” he added, saying that the armed forces generally disregard statements from such groups in Sinai.
In response to Al-Salafiya Al-Jihadiya’s assertion that the armed forces’ efforts to secure Sinai had been overestimated, Ali said, “We will see.”
