Sinai bomb blast wounds 20 Egyptian police officers
Sinai bomb blast wounds 20 Egyptian police officers
The blast is the latest in a series of attacks in Egypt's restive northern region, where an insurgency is raging.
2 min read
The Egyptian army is having trouble fighting the Sinai Province group
A roadside bomb wounded 20 policemen on Thursday as they travelled in a bus in northern Sinai, where militants have launched deadly attacks against security forces.
The military is fighting an Islamist insurgency in North Sinai, which grew since the 2013 ousting of president Mohamed Morsi by then army chief and now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Thursday's attack on the outskirts of North Sinai's provincial capital of El-Arish targeted a bus carrying policemen who were on leave, medics and security officials said.
The blast was detonated by remote control, security officials said.
In a separate attack on Thursday morning, gunmen on a motorbike shot dead a police captain near his home in the Nile Delta town of Beni Sueif, south of Cairo, police said.
North Sinai is the bastion of a militant group calling itself Wilayat Sinai - "Sinai Province". Formerly known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, it changed its name when it pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group (IS, itself formerly known as ISIS or ISIL) in November.
On July 1, the group carried out a series of attacks on security forces in the town of Sheikh Zuweid in the Sinai. The military said 21 soldiers were killed in those attacks, after several media outlets reported higher tolls from security officials.
Sinai Province say its attacks are in response to a crackdown launched by the authorities after Morsi's ousting which has seen at least 1,400 people killed and thousands more jailed.
The military is fighting an Islamist insurgency in North Sinai, which grew since the 2013 ousting of president Mohamed Morsi by then army chief and now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Thursday's attack on the outskirts of North Sinai's provincial capital of El-Arish targeted a bus carrying policemen who were on leave, medics and security officials said.
The blast was detonated by remote control, security officials said.
In a separate attack on Thursday morning, gunmen on a motorbike shot dead a police captain near his home in the Nile Delta town of Beni Sueif, south of Cairo, police said.
North Sinai is the bastion of a militant group calling itself Wilayat Sinai - "Sinai Province". Formerly known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, it changed its name when it pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group (IS, itself formerly known as ISIS or ISIL) in November.
On July 1, the group carried out a series of attacks on security forces in the town of Sheikh Zuweid in the Sinai. The military said 21 soldiers were killed in those attacks, after several media outlets reported higher tolls from security officials.
Sinai Province say its attacks are in response to a crackdown launched by the authorities after Morsi's ousting which has seen at least 1,400 people killed and thousands more jailed.
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