Sinai Peninsula along Egypt Israel border. Photo: wiki commons.

The UK’s foreign office has raised the terror level threat in Egypt from “general” to “high” following reports that Egyptian police thwarted an al-Qaeda terror plot in northern Sinai close to the border with Gaza.

According to a report in the BBC The Foreign Office said there was a “high threat of terrorism throughout Egypt, including the Sinai.”

The report also said that The Foreign Office made the assessment that there was a “high risk of attacks” in the country.

They did, however, reassure those tourists staying at well-guarded resorts in Sharm el-Sheikh that their safety was not jeopardized. It was advised not to stray from these secure locations into the Sinai where they would be at greater risk to kidnappings and hijackings.

Since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in 2011 the Sinai has become a point of contention between Egypt and Israel as its vast space and lax security apparatus have enabled it to become a hotbed of terrorism.

On Thursday, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Freedom and Justice Party exhorted law enforcement authorities to regain control of security in Sinai, this following a week of reports of terrorist activity in the peninsula. The Camp David Accords with Israel have limited Egypt’s ability to patrol the peninsula as part of the agreement limits the presence of Egyptian military there.

Just this past September a terrorist group killed one IDF soldier and wounded another in an attack at the border separating the two countries.