Minister of Endowment Mokhtar Gomaa assigned Wednesday a team to follow up on the kidnapping of an imam in Al-Arish, North Sinai, a statement on the ministry’s website said.
According to state media, masked gunmen kidnapped Sheikh Saeed Abdel Fattah in the district of Al-Masaeed. His location is currently unknown.
The incident, barely reported in the media, is believed to have taken place on 23 September according to two local news websites. Both Al-Fagr and Al-Bawaba News websites reported similar information regarding the sheikh’s kidnapping that followed his Friday sermon in a mosque.
According to the media reports, Abdel Fattah held an anti-terror speech and praised the army.
In the past week, there have also been reports of residents being kidnapped from North Sinai’s Rafah city, by militants who are believed to be members of the militant group “Sinai Province”.
The militant group commonly refers to the kidnapped persons as “traitors” in allegations about their cooperation with the Egyptian army fighting the group in Sinai.
