Retaliation

Report: Egyptian Airstrikes Hit Sinai

State media says helicopter attacks kill 20 people.

In one of President Morsi's first crises, Egypt reportedly deployed attack helicopters to the Sinai Peninsula on Wednesday in retaliation for the shooting of 16 Egyptian soldiers on Sunday. The attacks also followed more violence in the area on Tuesday night when gunman carried out a series of coordinated assaults on government checkpoints and a military factory that injured at least two people. Egyptian security officials said that attack helicopters opened fire in an area called Sheikh Zuwayed, and state media reported that the attacks killed 20 people. The recent airstrikes are the first to be launched on the Sinai Peninsula in decades.