Satellite image of the Sinai.

Amid the recent wave of riots and angry protests across the Muslim world over a film portraying the Prophet Muhammad in a negative light, dozens of Salafist Islamist gunmen stormed a Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) base in Al-Jora in the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday, leaving four officers wounded in an exchange of gunfire, as well as causing heavy damage to the base, Israel Hayom reported.

Some 1,500 MFO personnel, among them Americans and Canadians charged with implementing the 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt serve at the base, about 10 kilometers (six miles) from the Israeli border.

The attackers tore down the international peacekeeping force’s flags from the guard posts, raising black flags that symbolize the militant Islamic groups operating in Sinai, while yelling “Allahu Akbar” (“Allah is great”) and “Where are all the Muslims to avenge the humiliation of our sacred prophet?”

According to reports from Egypt on Saturday, at least four MFO officers were wounded in the attack. Two of the wounded were evacuated to a hospital in the nearby town of Sheikh Zuweid. Dozens of Egyptian army tanks and armored personnel carriers stationed in northern Sinai were called to the base to disperse Bedouin protesters who had gathered there following the attack. The Egyptian military forces were expected to remain near the base to ensure its security.