Egyptian president visits Israeli border, Egyptian Apaches land in El Arish

Cairo sources report two Egyptian Apache gunships armed with missiles – not fighters jets as reported earlier –  landed in El Arish airport to take part in the hunt for escaped Salafi and al Qaeda gunmen who killed 16 Egyptian commandoes and attacked the Israeli border Sunday. More warplanes are coming. If confirmed, this would be the first time Egyptian air force planes had touched down in Sinai since the Egyptian-Israel peace accords were signed in 1979. Cairo must have secured permission from Jerusalem as well as Washington for a counter-terror operation in the peninsula. President Mohammed Morsi landed in Sinai to visit the destroyed Egyptian border base. The number of gunmen is now estimated as thirty five. The country is observing three days’ mourning for the murdered soldiers.