Egypt has retaliated, just days after these emotive scenes as hundreds of people – members of the public and police officers alike - joined in a funeral procession for some of 16 Egyptian border guards who were slayed at their checkpoint in Sinai, some 30 miles from the Gaza-Israel border.

These are some of the first pictures of people gathering at the Al-Arish hospital where the dead and injured were taken as news of the attack spread. At the time on Sunday, reports were sketchy and the Egyptian state TV station broadcast news that 'unknown armed men' had opened fire on the checkpoint on the main road between Al-Arish and Rafah (a city at the border between Egypt and Israel)

.And now we know that just hours after those deadly killings, missiles were fired on suspected Islamic militants in Toumah village in Sinai. Security officials in Egypt say military attack helicopters were deployed in the first use of army missiles since the country's war with Israel in 1973. Officials say six people were wounded in the attacks -- among them a military officer, two soldiers, two policemen and a civilian whose condition is critical. Reports are that figure could be now as much as twenty wounded.