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Tuesday March 19, 2024

IS attacks kill at least 70 in Egypt´s Sinai

CAIRO : Islamic State group jihadists launched an unprecedented wave of attacks Wednesday on soldiers in Egypt´s Sinai Peninsula, killing at least 70 people, in a major challenge to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

F-16 warplanes bombarded the militants as they fought security forces on the streets of the North Sinai town of Sheikh Zuweid after striking military checkpoints in a surprise

By AFP
July 01, 2015
CAIRO : Islamic State group jihadists launched an unprecedented wave of attacks Wednesday on soldiers in Egypt´s Sinai Peninsula, killing at least 70 people, in a major challenge to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

F-16 warplanes bombarded the militants as they fought security forces on the streets of the North Sinai town of Sheikh Zuweid after striking military checkpoints in a surprise attack after dawn.

The militants withdrew from the town after almost eight hours of fighting, the officials said.

The military in a statement said 17 soldiers and 100 militants were killed, but in the past it has given lower tolls for such attacks that it increases days later.

The violence came two days after state prosecutor Hisham Barakat was assassinated in a Cairo car bombing. He was the most senior government official killed in the jihadist insurgency.

In the capital on Wednesday, police killed senior Muslim Brotherhood member Nasser al-Houfi and eight others during a raid on an apartment, security officials and a member of the Islamist movement said.

The Sinai attacks, in which car bombs were used, were the most brazen in their scope since jihadists launched an insurgency in 2013 following the army´s overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

The 70 dead were mostly soldiers but included several civilians, according to security and medical officials, who added 38 militants were also killed.

"It´s unprecedented, in the number of terrorists involved and the type of weapons they are using," said a senior military official.