Asharq Al Awsat, Cairo – Egyptian security sources revealed yesterday [Friday] that authorities had discovered 600 kilograms of the explosive substance TNT in North Sinai near the village of al Rathian in al Hasanah city in Northern Sinai.

The TNT was hidden inside numerous bags came the report to the attorney general’s office who are in charge of the investigations and who decreed its elimination. The police have confirmed that the amount was safely disposed of.

Egyptian police seized a ton of explosives on 29 October also near the North Sinai village of al Rathian. The authorities stated that these raids are part of the framework

in which there are continuous and intensive searches and a combing of the various desert areas, all in cooperation with the different sectors in a number of mountainous and desert areas.

Since the Sinai explosions in Sharm el Sheikh, Dahab, Taba and Nuweiba over the past two years, security authorities in the governorates of North and South Sinai have been executing frequent raids in the mountainous areas where the police suspect terrorists reside, concealing weapons and ammunition.