Islamic State’s Egypt wing claimed a series of attacks that killed at least 27 security personnel on Thursday in some of the worst anti-government violence in months, after commemorations around the anniversary of the 2011 uprising turned deadly in the past week.
Egypt’s government faces an Islamist insurgency based in Sinai and growing discontent with what critics perceive as heavy-handed security tactics.
A series of tweets from the militant group Sinai Province’s Twitter account claimed responsibility for each of the four attacks that took place in North Sinai province within hours of one another on Thursday night. Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, Egypt’s most active militant group, changed its name to Sinai Province last year after swearing allegiance to hardline Sunni group Islamic State.
Thursday’s first attack was a bombing targeting a military headquarters, base and hotel in the capital of North Sinai province that killed 25 and wounded at least 58, including nine civilians, security and medical sources said. The flagship government newspaper, al-Ahram, said its office in the city of Al-Arish, situated opposite the military buildings, had been “completely destroyed”, although it was not clear if it had been a target.
Later, suspected militants killed an army major and wounded six others at a checkpoint in Rafah, while an assault on a checkpoint south of Al-Arish wounded four soldiers, sources said. A roadside bomb in Suez city, not in the Sinai, that killed a police officer was not claimed by IS.
After Sinai Province’s claim of responsibility, security sources said a suspected militant had been killed while attempting to plant a bomb at a power transformer in Port Said.
Sinai-based militants have killed hundreds of officers since former president Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood was removed from power following mass protests against his rule.
The attacks in Al-Arish and Rafah continue a pattern of unrest in the strategic Sinai Peninsula, which borders the Gaza Strip, Israel and Egypt’s Suez Canal. But the less common attempts in Port Said and Suez, at opposite ends of the Canal, bring the insurgency nearer to a key source of hard currency for the cash-strapped state.
Earlier on Thursday, a group of women protested in Cairo over the death of activist Shaimaa Sabbagh and about 25 others said to have been killed by security forces at rallies commemorating the 2011 uprising. Sabbagh, 32, died on Saturday as riot police were breaking up a small, peaceful demonstration.
Images of her bleeding body rippled out across social media, sparking outrage and condemnation. “The interior ministry are thugs!” chanted about 100 female protesters at the site of Sabbagh’s death. Some held up signs with the word “murderer” scrawled over the face of Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim.
Egyptian officers slain
Egypt’s government faces an Islamist insurgency based in Sinai and growing discontent with what critics perceive as heavy-handed security tactics.
A series of tweets from the militant group Sinai Province’s Twitter account claimed responsibility for each of the four attacks that took place in North Sinai province within hours of one another on Thursday night. Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, Egypt’s most active militant group, changed its name to Sinai Province last year after swearing allegiance to hardline Sunni group Islamic State.
Thursday’s first attack was a bombing targeting a military headquarters, base and hotel in the capital of North Sinai province that killed 25 and wounded at least 58, including nine civilians, security and medical sources said. The flagship government newspaper, al-Ahram, said its office in the city of Al-Arish, situated opposite the military buildings, had been “completely destroyed”, although it was not clear if it had been a target.
Later, suspected militants killed an army major and wounded six others at a checkpoint in Rafah, while an assault on a checkpoint south of Al-Arish wounded four soldiers, sources said. A roadside bomb in Suez city, not in the Sinai, that killed a police officer was not claimed by IS.
After Sinai Province’s claim of responsibility, security sources said a suspected militant had been killed while attempting to plant a bomb at a power transformer in Port Said.
Sinai-based militants have killed hundreds of officers since former president Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood was removed from power following mass protests against his rule.
The attacks in Al-Arish and Rafah continue a pattern of unrest in the strategic Sinai Peninsula, which borders the Gaza Strip, Israel and Egypt’s Suez Canal. But the less common attempts in Port Said and Suez, at opposite ends of the Canal, bring the insurgency nearer to a key source of hard currency for the cash-strapped state.
Earlier on Thursday, a group of women protested in Cairo over the death of activist Shaimaa Sabbagh and about 25 others said to have been killed by security forces at rallies commemorating the 2011 uprising. Sabbagh, 32, died on Saturday as riot police were breaking up a small, peaceful demonstration.
Images of her bleeding body rippled out across social media, sparking outrage and condemnation. “The interior ministry are thugs!” chanted about 100 female protesters at the site of Sabbagh’s death. Some held up signs with the word “murderer” scrawled over the face of Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim.
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