Four cops, including a colonel, two constables and a low-ranking policeman, were killed, and 22 others were injured when three detainees seized weapons inside the state security building in Egypt's restive El-Arish city and exchanged fire with the security forces on Sunday morning.
All local communication services were cut throughout the attack in Arish, the capital city of North Sinai , located in the northeastern part of the country, until almost 3 pm, witnesses told °®Âþµº on condition of anonymity.
After long hours of exchanging fire, joint army-police forces managed to neutralise the attackers, who allegedly included a Palestinian belonging to the Hamas faction, a security source told TNA on condition of anonymity.
The fate of the assailants has been marred by contradictory reports, though. Some sources had earlier TNA that the three men were reportedly killed during the deadly confrontation with the Egyptian security forces, while others claimed they fled the scene.
Paramedics rushed the wounded police officers to Arish Central Hospital; many sustained severe injuries and have since been fighting for their lives, a local health ministry source told TNA, who also declined to be named.
Local news outlets mostly ignored the incident as no official comment has been released on the incident yet.
An IS-linked insurgency has raged for years in the Sinai Peninsula's north. It intensified after a 2013 military coup led by current president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi when he served as the defence minister.
While there is no official death toll, it is believed that hundreds of Egyptian security forces, civilians and militants have died in the ongoing violence.