By Thomas Madison
Print media reports are calling this a rocket attack by ISIS on an Egyptian Navy patrol boat. However, it is clearly a missile attack, the difference being that rockets are unguided and missiles, as in this direct hit, are guided, a much more advanced technology.
In the video, below, you can clearly see the missile being steered towards the target.
From Chris Hughes, UK Mirror
They fired a deadly rocket salvo at the Egyptian patrol boat which burst into flames as it patrolled the Mediterranean off northern Sinai.
A coastguard vessel just two miles out to sea had earlier opened fire on militants on the coast of northern Sinai, which borders Israel and Gaza.
When heavily armed fighters fired back they opened up with suspected rocket propelled grenades which smashed into the boat’s side, exploding on impact.
The ship regularly patrols the coast there and it is thought ISIS jihadis may have lain in wait for it.
It is thought to be the first sea attack by the Islamic State to hit a target.
ISIS has a foothold of around 2,000 fighters on Sinai – a peninsula whose southern tip is popular with British holidaymakers including the resort of Sharm el Sheikh.
The terror network established itself in Sinai around six months ago.
Fortunately there were no fatalities among the vessel’s crew in the shootout, according to Egyptian military spokesman, Brigadier General Mohammed Samir.
Several crew members suffered injuries.
ISIS declared their presence on Sinai – a peninsula popular with British holidaymakers – last November when up to 2,000 members of the already established jihadi group Ansar Bait al-Maqdis swore allegiance to ISIS’ leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
An AFP photographer and a witness in the Palestinian Gaza Strip, just across the border, said the boat was struck at least two miles from shore.
Photographer Ahmed Nofal said: “We were sitting on the beach and suddenly there was an explosion.”
