Egyptian authorities revealed yesterday that various terrorist and jihadi organizations, particularly in the Sinai region—including the villages of Mahdiya, Ganoub Rifh, Sheikh Zawid, and al-Arish—are keeping the people in a state of terror and threatening to slaughter them if they try to flee the region and/or try to expose them and their identities.
Sources also say that the Egyptian military and police are taking measures to prevent any potential attacks on or massacres of the civilian population, warning that “the terrorists use women and children as human shields in cases where Egyptian military forces launch a security operation.”
Authorities further exposed plans by the jihadi and terrorist groups to use young children from the region to spy on the movements of the military, presumably because children are less susceptible of arousing suspicions.
In one instance, a 12-year-old boy was apprehended after he was seen closely surveying both moving and parked military vehicles in Sheikh Zawid, in order to detonate them through a wireless device, said sources.