CAIRO
Egypt’s cabinet on Wednesday approved fresh anti-terror legislation one day after a string of deadly militant attacks in the restive Sinai Peninsula that left at least 17 Egyptian troops dead.
In a statement, the cabinet said it had endorsed a raft of new laws aimed at providing "swifter justice and retribution."
It added that the new measures would help dry up sources of funding for terrorism, without giving further details.
The move comes two days after President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi vowed to introduce tougher anti-terrorism laws following the Monday assassination in Cairo of Egyptian Prosecutor-General Hisham Barakat in a car bombing.
The proposed legislation has yet to be ratified by al-Sisi, who currently holds legislative authority as Egypt has yet to elect a parliament.
- ‘State of war’
On Wednesday, at least 17 Egyptian soldiers were killed in a wave of militant attacks on military checkpoints in the northern Sinai Peninsula, although other sources say the death toll was much higher.
The attacks were claimed by the Welayet Sinai (“Province of Sinai”) militant group, believed to have links to the Daesh militant group, which last year overran vast swathes of territory in both Iraq and Syria.
Following Wednesday’s multiple attacks, Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab said his government would refer new draft anti-terrorism legislation to the president for ratification.
“Egypt is in a state of war,” he said following a Wednesday cabinet meeting.
Egypt has been dogged by instability since Egypt's first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, was overthrown in a military coup on July 3, 2013.
Since Morsi's ouster, the Egyptian authorities have carried out a relentless crackdown on dissent that has mainly targeted the ousted president’s supporters and members of his now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.
Over the course of the last two years, the crackdown has seen hundreds killed, while tens of thousands have reportedly been imprisoned.
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