CAIRO — In a surprise move Wednesday, President Mohamed Morsi sacked his intelligence chief for failing to act on warnings about imminent attacks days before militants stormed a border post in Sinai and killed 16 Egyptian soldiers. Dr. Yasser Ali, the president's spokesman, said Maj. Gen. Murad Muwafi, Chief of Intelligence, has been sacked. The dismissal, which followed airstrikes against Sinai militants, also marked a bold attempt by Morsi to deflect popular anger over the attack. In a major shake-up, Morsi also asked Defense Minister Hussein Tantawi to replace the commander of the military police. The shuffle extended to Abdel Wahab Mabruk, the governor of North Sinai where the attack took place. He also fired the commander of his presidential guards and ordered new chiefs for security in Cairo and the police's central security. The president appointed Mohammad Rafaat Abdel Wahad Shehata as the interim head of General Intelligence. Maj. Gen. Muhammad Dhakiy has been appointed the head of the Republican Guard. Earlier on Wednesday, Muwafi, himself a former governor of North Sinai, issued a rare public statement saying that his agency had forewarning of the weekend attack that killed the soldiers. Meanwhile, Salah Abdulmaqsoud, Minister of Information, issued instructions not to host Israeli personalities on Egyptian TV or radio. Abdulmaqsoud issued the decision after investigations into comments made by an Israeli analyst about the Sinai attack on an Egyptian television channel.
