Heroism in Egypt as a tank crew crushes a suicide car bomb.

The moment of the blast. Screenshot via RT

A heroic tank crew crushed a suicide car bomb containing four armed militants saving many lives in a bombing in Egypt. RT. The incident happened at a checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, which has an ISIS insurgency. The car approached the checkpoint and the tank crew quickly acted and crushed the vehicle. This gave many of the civilians the opportunity to escape, though seven people are known to have died in the incident. Egypt's defense ministry says the action of the tank crew saved as many as 60 lives. 

The incident was captured on video and can be viewed below. WARNING! Graphic content. 

My Comment:

Very heroic action by these tank crewmen. Though they were protected by their tank's armor there was a real chance of death or injury when they crushed that vehicle. The blast looked large enough that if the tank was on top of the vehicle when it blew up, the crew probably would have died or at least been severely injured. They knew this and did it anyways, probably thinking if their was a bomb and it went off they heavy armor on their tank would help contain the blast. Thankfully, the tank was able to retreat after neutralizing the attackers, but that doesn't make this tank crew any less brave. 

The defense ministry said that this action probably saved 60 lives, and I can believe it. If the car had been able to pass the tank it could have reached the civilian vehicles and less armored APC's behind the tank. If that had happened dozens of civilians and soldiers could have been wounded or killed. And that's assuming that the gunmen inside didn't hop out and start shooting people as well. Thankfully, that didn't happen because of the quick thinking of this tank crew. 

I haven't heard much else about this incident. Outside of RT and the British tabloids, this incident hasn't gotten any coverage. You would think a news report where a tank crushes a car bomb that then blows up would be bigger news, but I guess the American media has more "important" things to cover. 

Though, as far as I can determine, nobody has taken credit for this attack, I would guess it was ISIS. They have a large presence in the Sinai and the affiliates there are one of the most brutal and effective ISIS cells left. This kind of joint attack with a car bomb and gunmen is right up their ally and it only failed because of this tank crew. There are other Islamist insurgencies in Egypt, but most of them are in other parts of the country. 

The attackers picked a good target but they didn't count on the quick action of the tank's driver. Their plan very well could have worked. A combined suicide bombing and mass shooting at a military checkpoint could have killed dozens. And even though this attack could have been worse, they still managed to kill several people. I don't know if the seven deaths in this incident include the four terrorists in the car, but even if it did they still killed three people. Expect more of these attacks in the future in Egypt.