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| An Islamist firing RPG at COSCO-ASIA in Suez Canal. |
Egyptian Islamist terrorists fired
rockets at a giant COSCO container Ship in Suez Canal. The image captured from
a Sept. 4 video alleged to show members of the Islamist terrorist group
Al-Furqan firing a rocket propelled grenade at a merchant ship in the Suez
Canal.
An Islamist terror group has taken
responsibility for a Saturday rocket propelled grenade (RPG) attack on a
merchant ship transiting the Suez Canal, USNI News has learned.
A video posted on YouTube Wednesday September
4 — alleged to have been issued by the group Al-Furqan along with a letter of
responsibility — show two men with rocket propelled grenades fire at least one
RPG round into the side of a cargo ship bearing the markings of the Chinese
merchant shipper Cosco. Previous press reports said the ship in
the Saturday incident was the Panamanian flagged cargo ship, Cosco Asia.
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| Mildly-damaged COSCO-ASIA at Port Said. |
The Wednesday letter — according to a
rough translation provided to USNI News by industry sources — said the group
supported the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, called for an end to democracy and
promised future more severe action against ships in the Suez canal.
The group claimed it was, “targeting
the international shipping waterway which has become a safe route for crusader
aircraft carriers travelling to attack Muslims, and a trade artery for infidel
and tyrannical states,” in a separate translation in a Thursday report from
news service Ahram Online.
The video and the accompanying letter
from Al-Furqan claiming credit for the attack gives further credence to claims
the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) made on Saturday of a terrorist attack that were
quickly walked back by the Egyptian military.
“We spoke with the designated person
from Cosco in [Port] Said,” Kevin Doherty with maritime security consultancy
Nexus Consulting Group told USNI News on Thursday. “The shipping company’s
general manager relayed to us that the master told them he had been hit with a
rocket. That was consistent with the SCA report.”
The claim from the SCA and other
independent reports on the incident give further credence to the video. “We
think it was an attack from a small rocket or something like that,” Cosco’s
managing director for Egyptian operations told International Oil Daily on Sept.
2. “When it reached the front deck of the vessel, it blasted and made a big
explosion sound.”
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| Map of Suez canal in Egypt. |
Following the initial reports, Cosco
has remained silent on the attack. “Due to the only very small damage to the
deck and boxes and no [casualties] on board, we don’t want to openly discuss
this matter,” company officials said in a Monday email obtained by USNI News.
Both the initial SCA alert and early
reports from Cosco officials run counter to claims from the Egyptian military
that downplayed the incident. Egyptian military sources quoted by news service
Reuters said three suspects had been arrested and had used pistols or machine
guns — not RPGs.
“The Egyptian government is saying we
arrested these guys, it’s over,” Doherty said. “Clearly they didn’t. They were
able to upload their video. They were able to fire two rockets at a ship and
they intend to sink a vessel. They haven’t accomplished their mission and they
have not been arrested.”
Doherty — a former U.S. Marine — said the name
Al-Furqan comes from the Koran that roughly translates to “patriot” and was a
name used by an insurgent group in Iraq. “We think it’s a new group that has
adopted the same name,” he said.
In reaction to the video, Nexus issued
a “severe warning” to ships attempting to transit the canal and urged shippers
to use the “utmost vigilance.” The Egyptian military and shipping insurers —
mostly based in the U.K. — have an incentive to downplay incidents in the Suez.
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| A container ship sailing through Suez Canal. |
Insurers have an incentive not to raise
transit rates for shippers. Previous rate increases due to piracy in the
Straits of Malacca caused pushback from shippers and countries in that region
of Asia, Michael Frodl, head of U.S. consultancy C-Level Maritime Risks told
USNI News on Thursday.
“This has to be a very deliberate
judgment call on [the insurers] part. Because the Suez Canal doesn’t have a
practical workaround,” Frodl said. “Once they raise the rates the cost will be
passed along.”
There are few other routes to connect
ships from the Atlantic to the Pacific if the Suez transit becomes too
dangerous or unaffordable. Routes around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern
tip of Africa can dramatically increase fuel costs for shippers that already
operate with small margins. Arctic routes are too untested and too far away
from search and rescue assets in case shippers get into trouble.
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| USS Eissenhower inside Suez Canal. |
So far, maritime insurers aren’t
reacting to the emergence of the video, according to a Thursday report from the
Oil Price Information Service that quoted the Lloyd’s Marketing Association
head of underwriting, Neil Smith.
“We have looked at [the video],” Smith
told OPIS. “And it is something we won’t be taking any action over at this
stage.” It is unclear now if the U.S. or other nations will issue warnings to
shippers based on the terrorist claims.
The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz
(CVN-68), its escort of three Arleigh Burke guided missile destroyers and one
Ticonderoga guided missile cruiser have been tasked to the Red Sea in case they
are needed to support a limited strike on Syria. In order to support forces in
the Eastern Mediterranean, the ships would likely transit through the Suez.
Last week the amphibious warship USS
San Antonio (LPD-17) transited through the canal without incident.
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| Al-Furqan's letter accompanying the video of RPG attack on COSCO-ASIA. |
