In an effort to keep you up to date, I offer this...

In 1994, I was stationed on the Sinai Peninnsula, Egypt...Sharm El Sheikh, actually, probably less than a mile from where the bombings were last month (July). It was a great assignment, and peace was breaking out all over, so we weren't restricted. Still, leftover land mines were sometimes a problem near the outposts we maintained (we would run our PT test on a road that was lined on either side with old minefields left over from the Israeli - Arab wars). Looks like they're still there...

Glad no one was hurt in this incident, but it is sort of scary to see my old stomping grounds in the news so often recently...

Small Blast Near Multinational Force Vehicle-Egypt
Middle East / N. Africa - Egypt
15 Aug 2005 - ABC News

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15 Aug 2005

East Africa Opens Disaster Center

Egypt's Interior Ministry said a small blast occurred on the side of a road in Sinai on Monday as a vehicle belonging to the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) passed by, but no one was killed.

An Egyptian security source said the blast was caused by a land mine left over in the area from wars between Israel and Egypt. The MFO was set up to supervise security provisions in the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty.

MFO official Ian Baxendell told Reuters an MFO vehicle was damaged in north Sinai but said no one was hurt.

"An MFO vehicle was damaged. The two occupants of the vehicle are unharmed and uninjured," he said without saying what caused the damage and without giving details of those inside.

Baxendell initially said there was no explosion, but later said he was still waiting for details of the incident from the investigation that was underway.

"A limited explosion occurred on the right side of a branch desert road while one of the MFO vehicles passed in the area of El Gorah in Sinai, about 1 km outside their camp," an Interior Ministry statement said, adding that no one was killed.

A security source had earlier said a small bus had exploded in an airport used by the MFO at El Gorah.

The North Camp at El Gorah, which is about 20 km (13 miles) south of Sinai's Mediterranean coast, is the MFO's largest installation and site of the force commander's headquarters, the MFO's Web site said.

The 11 countries sending contingents to the MFO are Australia, Colombia, France, Italy, Norway, the United States, Canada, Fiji, Hungary, New Zealand and Uruguay, the Web site said.

Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, the first Arab country to make peace with the Jewish state after fighting several wars in the Sinai Peninsula.

Copyright 2005 Reuters News Service

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