The 2014 Farafra ambush (also called 2014 Al-Wadi Al-Gedid attack) occurred on 19 July 2014 when unidentified gunmen ambushed a desert checkpoint in the Farafra Oasis Road in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
's New Valley Governorate. Twenty-two border guards were killed in the attack, which was one of the biggest since the July 2013 ouster of Egyptian president
Mohamed Morsi
Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Eissa al-AyyatThe spellings of his first and last names vary. survey of 14 news organizations plus Wikipedia in July 2012
Mohamed Morsi
Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Eissa al-AyyatThe spellings of his first and last names vary. survey of 14 news organizations plus Wikipedia in July 2012crackdown on his supporters. The same checkpoint was attacked less than two months earlier when five army conscripts were killed by gunmen.
The perpetrators of the second attack were initially described as smugglers by security officials interviewed by ''
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was estab ...
'', who said that they are being paid by their militant comrades in Egypt to ship them weapons from Libya, a country plagued by
instability
In numerous fields of study, the component of instability within a system is generally characterized by some of the outputs or internal states growing without bounds. Not all systems that are not stable are unstable; systems can also be mar ...
following the 2011
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
-backed
uprising
Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority.
A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...
that toppled
Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...
.
Attack
The checkpoint, situated on the Farafra Oasis Road near the borders with Libya, was attacked by 20 gunmen, initially described as smugglers, in weapon-mounted vehicles with
machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...
s as well as
rocket-propelled grenade
A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) is a shoulder-fired missile weapon that launches rockets equipped with an explosive warhead. Most RPGs can be carried by an individual soldier, and are frequently used as anti-tank weapons. These warheads are a ...
s that were used to blow up an ammunitions storage. After the 30-minute exchange of fire, the checkpoint was destroyed, with twenty-one soldiers killed, some of them burned, and some others wounded. This was followed by clashes where three of the attackers were killed by security forces. The militants also tried to infiltrate the site with two booby trapped vehicles, but the army said that they were retrieved and defused by bomb experts. Ambulances were sent to the location, as well as reinforcements which included army helicopters and special forces to hunt down the militants.
Investigation
Military investigations showed that one of the vehicles used was stolen from the previous incident on the same checkpoint. They also indicated that the attack was planned and that heavy
cast bullet
A cast bullet is made by allowing molten metal to solidify in a Molding (process), mold. Most cast bullets are made of lead alloyed with tin and antimony; but zinc alloys have been used when lead is scarce, and may be used again in response to conc ...
s were found at the site. The slain attackers were held by authorities and were later identified as non-Egyptians by the military prosecutor. A security source suspected the involvement of Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, adding that an Islamic black standard was raised during the assault.
Convictions
On 11 October 2017, thirteen people were sentenced to death by a military court for their involvement in the attack—twelve of them ''in absentia''. An additional ten people were convicted ''in absentia'' in December 2017, including
Hesham Ashmawy
Hesham Ali Ashmawy Mos'ad Ibrahim ( ar, هشام عشماوي مسعد إبراهيم; 1978 – March 4, 2020) was a convicted terrorist who previously was an Egyptian Army officer, suspected by the government of having orchestrated and been inv ...
of Ansar Bait al-Maqdis. Ashmawy was captured by the
Libyan National Army
The Libyan National Army (LNA; ar, الجيش الوطني الليبي, ''al-jaysh al-waṭaniyy al-Lībii'') is a component of Libya's military forces which were nominally a unified national force under the command of Field Marshal Khalifa Ha ...
on 8 October 2018, and extradited to Egypt in May 2019. In November 2019, he was sentenced to death for the attack, as well as for thirteen other crimes.
Reactions
Egyptian President
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil el-Sisi; (born 19 November 1954) is an Egyptian politician and retired military officer who has served as the sixth and current president of Egypt since 2014. Before retiring as a general in the Egyptian mil ...
issued a presidential decree where he announced three days of national mourning, calling the incident a "terrorist attack". The presidency released a statement saying that the "heinous crime that took these brave souls and spilled their blood will not go unanswered". "Terrorism will be uprooted from every part of Egypt. All those responsible for perpetrating these acts and acting outside of the law will receive their rightful punishment," the statement added. The government declared a
state of emergency
A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...
along the borders with
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
several hours after the attacks, while Defense Minister Sedki Sobhi's concerns were about the Egyptian-Libyan border due to weak Libyan government measures to counter the threat of weapons' smuggling into Egypt. He added that the military was coordinating with the Interior Ministry in a large surveillance operation in the area. The president-led National Defence Council met the same night, where it was vowed that the attack would be avenged.
The assault was also condemned by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab, the country's Grand MuftiShawki Allam, Al-Azhar, the
Coptic Orthodox Church
The Coptic Orthodox Church ( cop, Ϯⲉⲕ̀ⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̀ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ⲛ̀ⲟⲣⲑⲟⲇⲟⲝⲟⲥ, translit=Ti.eklyseya en.remenkimi en.orthodoxos, lit=the Egyptian Orthodox Church; ar, الكنيسة القبطي ...
, as well as the
Egyptian Organization for Human Rights
The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR), founded in April 1985 and with its headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, is a non-profit NGO and one of the longest-standing bodies for the defense of human rights in Egypt. It investigates, monitors, an ...
. The Dostour Party rejected it as a "cowardly criminal attack on soldiers carrying out their duty" and offered condolences to families of the slain officers and called on the government to arrest the perpetrators. Hamdeen Sabahi's
Popular Current
The Egyptian Popular Current ( ') is a political movement, movement in Egypt, created after the Egyptian presidential election, 2012, 2012 presidential elections by former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi. The movement was formed on 21 Septemb ...
criticized the government and held it responsible for the incident, demanding more effective counter-terrorism measures and the arrest of the attackers to be brought to trial.
;International
* – Secretary-General of the Arab League, Nabil Elaraby, condemned the incident, adding that it was an attempt to destabilize Egypt's security and stability. He also stressed the league's support for the country against all forms of terrorism.
* – France's Foreign Ministry condemned the attack in a statement, offering its condolences to the victims' families. "France stands beside the authorities and people of Egypt in their fight against terrorism," it added.
* – Jordanian Minister of State and Media Affairs, Mohamed al-Momani, condemned the attack and expressed the kingdom's solidarity with the Egyptian people in their struggle against terrorism stressing Jordan's position "which rejects all acts of terrorism and violence regardless of the motives and sources". Later that day, King Abdullah II phoned both Egypt and
Tunisia
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, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
's presidents, due to a similar attack in Tunisia two days earlier, offering them his condolences and condemning "such cowardly terrorist acts". He also expressed his solidarity with Egypt and Tunisia, as well as the families of the victims.
* – The Sudanese government condemned the attack, stressing its "keenness on Egypt's security and stability" and rejecting any similar act. "The government of Sudan would like to convey through the Foreign Ministry the condolences and sympathy of the Sudanese people and government to the Egyptian government and people as well as the families and relatives of the martyrs", it said in a statement.
* – The Tunisian presidency released a
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
statement condemning the attack. "Tunisia condemns this terrorist and coward attack on the Egyptian army," the statement said. It also offered condolences to the Egyptian people and government.
* – Minister Tobias Ellwood of the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ministries of fore ...
condemned the attack, offering his condolences and his support for the investigation. "I strongly condemn the appalling terrorist attack on a border guard checkpoint near Farafra on Saturday. My thoughts are with the families of those killed and wounded and all those affected. The Egyptian authorities have our support as they investigate this incident and seek to prevent further attacks," he said.
* – The
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...
released a press statement condemning the incident. "We extend our condolences to the families of the victims, and hope for the quick and full recovery of the wounded. A prosperous and dynamic Egypt requires an environment of security and stability, and the United States continues to support the Egyptian Government’s efforts to counter the threat of terrorism in Egypt as part of our commitment to the strategic partnership between our two countries," the statement read.