Egypt’s military has acknowledged carrying out a major security campaign along its southern frontier with Sudan, days after Sudanese miners were killed and wounded in attacks blamed on Egyptian forces in the Jabal al-Uqaydat border area.
The Egyptian army said Monday that its forces, working alongside Interior Ministry units, launched a large-scale operation in the Southern Military Region against what it described as illegal activity, including drug and weapons trafficking, unauthorized gold mining and irregular migration.
The statement said the raids led to the arrest of 87 Egyptian nationals and 136 foreign citizens. Egyptian authorities also seized 14 vehicles, wireless communication devices, cash in Egyptian pounds and foreign currencies, as well as unlicensed weapons and ammunition.
The army said large quantities of equipment used in informal mining operations were also confiscated.
But the Egyptian statement made no mention of the Sudanese casualties reported last week, when miners in the Jabal al-Uqaydat area, near the Sudanese-Egyptian border, came under attack. Local accounts said at least 30 Sudanese miners were killed and around 50 others injured, while dozens fled into mountains and desert areas to escape aerial bombardment.
The omission has fueled anger among Sudanese communities and political forces, who say Cairo is attempting to frame a deadly cross-border incident as a routine security campaign.
Sudanese reactions have been sharply critical. The Sudan Founding Alliance, known as TASIS, accused Egyptian aircraft of carrying out strikes over two days in the North Valley and Al-Ansari areas, saying the attacks caused large numbers of casualties and left workers trapped in mining shafts. The alliance called for an international investigation into what it described as a serious violation against Sudanese civilians.
The Sudanese Congress Party also condemned the incident, referring to it as the “Jabal al-Uqaydat massacre” and saying the attacks were accompanied by ground movements near the border. The party said the violence forced civilians and miners to flee into the desert, worsening an already dangerous humanitarian situation in the area.
The attacks have intensified scrutiny of Egypt’s conduct along the frontier, where thousands of Sudanese rely on artisanal gold mining for survival amid the country’s war and economic collapse. Sudanese critics say Egypt has repeatedly used excessive force in remote border areas while avoiding accountability for civilian deaths.
Security tensions in the Sudanese-Egyptian border mining zone are not new. In March, at least nine miners were killed and others wounded after armed clashes broke out between traditional miners and Egyptian border guards in the Wadi al-Ansari area.
