RAFAH, Egypt — Vast areas of Egypt’s Sinai Desert have descended into lawlessness in recent months, providing fertile ground for cells of extremist militants that have quietly established training camps near the Israeli border, Bedouin elders and security experts have said.
The militants include men who have fought in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as Islamists released from prison after the 2011 popular revolt that toppled Hosni Mubarak.
The militants have become increasingly bold amid a broader breakdown of security in the strategically important desert, a buffer between Israel and Egypt. The eclipse of authority has also given rise to sharia courts.
The government’s failure to restore order in the Sinai has unnerved Israel, in part because of a recent attack on a border post. Some residents worry Israel may respond unilaterally. The Sinai was contested territory for much of the past century. After wars with Israel, Egypt regained control of the Sinai in the 1979 treaty brokered by the United States.