Terrorist attempt to target container ship in Suez Canal foiled

A "terrorist" staged an unsuccessful attack on a container ship passing through the Suez Canal, in an attempt to disrupt ships in the vital waterway. It follows the arrest on Saturday by Egyptian security forces of a wanted militant in the Sinai peninsula.

Canal authority chairman Mohab Mamish said a "terrorist element" had tried to disrupt navigation in the waterway by targeting a Panama-flagged ship. In comments carried by official news agency Mena, he said the attempt was "completely unsuccessful" and the container carrier was unharmed. He did not say how the ship was targeted.

Authorities have taken extra security measures to safeguard the canal as lawlessness and violence gripped Sinai, where militants and smugglers move relatively freely and target security forces and posts.

Egyptian authorities have stepped up security arrangements in recent weeks, following the military takeover that ousted Islamist president Mohammed Mursi on July 3.

They accuse opponents of the takeover of trying to destabilise the country, and have waged a security crackdown against members of the Muslim Brotherhood, from which Mursi hails, and other allies, arresting hundreds. In Sinai, violence has only worsened his overthrow.

The militant arrested there on Saturday is suspected of leading an al-Qaeda-linked group in an ambush where 25 off-duty policemen were lined up and shot two weeks ago, security officials said. The attack was one of the area's worst militant strikes on security forces.