Nine killed in Egypt attack

CAIRO: Suspected militants shot dead at least nine truck drivers in Egypt’s Sinai region late on Thursday when they targeted a transport convoy, setting the vehicles on fire, medical and security sources said on Friday.

Egypt’s security forces have since 2014 been battling an Islamic State affiliate in northern Sinai, where militants have mostly hit police and soldiers but also occasionally targeted infrastructure and businesses.

Two security sources in al-Arish, the area capital, said armed men attacked the convoy, which was carrying coal to a cement factory. The bodies of the truck drivers, all shot to death, were taken to the morgue of Suez public hospital, four medical sources said.

A military spokesman said there was no official statement. An interior ministry official did not respond to a request for information. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.