2014 Farafra ambush
The 2014 Farafra ambush (also called 2014 Al-Wadi Al-Gedid attack) occurred on 19 July 2014 when unidentified gunmen ambushed a desert checkpoint in the Farafra Oasis Road in Egypt's New Valley Governorate. Twenty-two border guards were killed in the attack, which was one of the biggest since the July 2013 ouster of Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi and the second at the same checkpoint in less than three months. Background Militant groups such as Ansar Bait al-Maqdis have ramped up an anti-military campaign that involves bombings and shootings in Egypt since the 2013 coup d'état which saw the removal of President Mohamed Morsi, followed by a violent crackdown on his supporters. The same checkpoint was attacked less than two months earlier when five army conscripts were killed by gunmen. The perpetrators of the second attack were initially described as smugglers by security officials interviewed by Reuters, who said that they are being paid by their militant comrades in Egypt to ship them weapons from Libya, a country plagued by instability following the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi. Attack The checkpoint, situated on the Farafra Oasis Road near the borders with Libya, was attacked by 20 gunmen, initially described as