18 soldiers injured by roadside bomb in Egypt's Al-Arish

The attack was claimed by Sinai Province Islamist militant group

An Egyptian military vehicle is seen on the highway in northern Sinai, Egypt

A roadside bomb exploded early Sunday on a coastal road in North Sinai's Al-Arish, injuring 18 soldiers, security sources told . 

The attack was claimed by Sinai Province Islamist militant group, an affiliate of the Islamic state group.

Sources said all soldiers were transferred to Al-Arish hospital with "moderate" injuries. 

Security forces surrounded the road with a cordon following the bombing. 

Heavy gunshot by security forces followed the explosion, according to local residents. 

Sinai Province Islamist militant group, formerly known as Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks in the peninsula.

In a similar attack, two security personnel were injured on Friday in a North Sinai bombing, hours after the army announced it had killed 12 “terrorists” in Sheikh Zuweid.

The decade-long militant insurgency in North Sinai has intensified in the past two years, with hundreds of army and police personnel killed.

The army has also announced the killing of hundreds of militants.

Sinai Province Islamist militant group, formerly known as Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks in the peninsula.

In November 2014, Sinai Province pledged allegiance to the Islamic State militant group that controls large swathes of Syria and Iraq.

A state of emergency has been imposed in North Sinai for the past ten months following a deadly attack that left 31 soldiers dead.

Small bombs target two homes of Egyptian policemen in North Sinai, no injuries

Egyptian border guards patrol near the border with Israel in North Sinai city of Rafah, Egypt

Minor bombs hit the homes of two policemen in North Sinai on Wednesday morning, As reported.

No casualties were reported.

The blasts hit the homes of two low-ranking policemen in the Al-Masaeed district of Al-Arish.

Witnesses said the homes suffered minor damage.

Several houses of policemen have been similarly attacked in the past two months in North Sinai amid an Islamist armed insurgency against the state.

On 22 June, three policemen and five civilians were injured when two bombs struck adjacent houses inhabited by police personnel in the Karm Abo Negila area of Arish.

Earlier on 13 June, assailants targeted another policeman’s house in North Sinai with an RPG that reportedly missed the target and blasted the walls of a nearby house, injuring a family of six.

In the past two weeks the Egyptian army has carried out intense strikes against insurgent strongholds, which have reportedly left more than 200 militant fighters dead, after Islamic State militants launched multiple simultaneous attacks against security forces earlier in July, leaving at least 21 soldiers dead according to military reports.

Militants have killed hundreds of police and army personnel in the past two years in North Sinai, while the authorities have announced that they also killed hundreds of Islamist militants in military campaigns in the governorate.

An Islamic State affiliate, Sinai Province – previously known as Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis – has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks against security forces in Sinai.

Egypt army : Three soldiers killed, four injured in militant attack in North Sinai

Three Egyptian army soldiers were killed and four injured in a militant attack by terrorists on Saturday evening against a security checkpoint south of the town of Sheikh Zueid in North Sinai, a military spokesman said.

Spokesman Mohamed Samir said on his official Facebook page that the army had been engaging the militants in battle in three different areas south of the town. He said that the army destroyed two vehicles and killed a number of militants in the Al-Hamadein area near Al-Zawarae, south of Sheikh Zuweid.

The Islamic State's Egypt affiliate, Sinai Province, has claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement carried on a social media website. 

Earlier in the evening, state news had reported that five soldiers were killed and seven injured in a militant attack against Abu Refae security checkpoint south of Sheikh Zuweid.

Security sources had told that "terrorists" attacked the checkpoint with live ammunition and bombs.

On 1 July, Islamic State group militants launched multiple attacks against army and security forces in and around Sheikh Zuweid, leaving 21 soldiers dead.

In the past two weeks, the Egyptian army, which regained control over the town on the same day after fierce battles, has been carrying out intense strikes against militant hideouts which reportedly left more than 200 militants dead.

Egypt's Islamic State affiliate claims rocket attack on naval boat

Smokes rises from an Egyptian coastguard vessel on the coast of northern Sinai, as seen from the border of southern Gaza Strip with Egypt July 16, 2015

The Islamic State's Egypt affiliate, Sinai Province, has claimed responsibility for Thursday's missile attack on a naval boat off the Mediterranean coast of Egypt.

The Egyptian army said in a statement earlier that the patrol boat was chasing militants off the coast of Rafah, a town in North Sinai, and had exchanged gunfire with them. The boat caught on fire as a result, but the incident left no fatalities, the military said.

Sinai Province released a statement saying its jihadists had carried out a rocket attack on a naval vessel belonging to the "apostasy army" in the eastern Mediterranean.

The volatile North Sinai region, where Rafah is located, is an epicenter of a mounting Islamist insurgency that has killed hundreds of members of the security forces since the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

Earlier in July, 21 soldiers were killed after simultaneous militant assaults on army checkpoints in the North Sinai towns of Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah, prompting days-long fighting between troops and insurgents that left over 200 militants killed.

On Wednesday, the army said its troops foiled a suicide car bomb attack on a military post between Cairo and Suez. This attempt was also claimed by Sinai Province, Egypt's most lethal militant group.

Egypt's Islamic State affiliate claims rocket attack on naval boat

Smokes rises from an Egyptian coastguard vessel on the coast of northern Sinai, as seen from the border of southern Gaza Strip with Egypt July 16, 2015

The Islamic State's Egypt affiliate, Sinai Province, has claimed responsibility for Thursday's missile attack on a naval boat off the Mediterranean coast of Egypt.

The Egyptian army said in a statement earlier that the patrol boat was chasing militants off the coast of Rafah, a town in North Sinai, and had exchanged gunfire with them. The boat caught on fire as a result, but the incident left no fatalities, the military said.

Sinai Province released a statement saying its jihadists had carried out a rocket attack on a naval vessel belonging to the "apostasy army" in the eastern Mediterranean.

The volatile North Sinai region, where Rafah is located, is an epicenter of a mounting Islamist insurgency that has killed hundreds of members of the security forces since the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

Earlier in July, 21 soldiers were killed after simultaneous militant assaults on army checkpoints in the North Sinai towns of Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah, prompting days-long fighting between troops and insurgents that left over 200 militants killed.

On Wednesday, the army said its troops foiled a suicide car bomb attack on a military post between Cairo and Suez. This attempt was also claimed by Sinai Province, Egypt's most lethal militant group.

Egyptian cabinet bans use of 4X4 vehicles in army-operations zones in Sinai

Locals watch as smoke rises from the burning remains of a building and vehicle after a firefight between Egyptian security forces and suspected militants at the al-Gourain Egypt's north Sinai region in 2012

Egypt's Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab issued on Sunday a decree banning 4X4 vehicles in army-operations zones in Sinai, as reported.

According to a statement issued by the cabinet, the ban covers all types of 4X4 vehicles - regardless of brand - in the areas designated by the Egyptian armed forces as stages of military operations in North and South Sinai governorates.

The Egyptian army has been waging an intensive military operation against Islamist militants in North Sinai in the past ten days following a 1 July extensive attack by Islamic State group affiliate Sinai Province on multiple army posts in North Sinai, which left 21 army soldiers and officers dead.

Islamist militants have reportedly used 4X4 vehicles in their repeated attacks on security forces. 

Sinai residents have long used 4X4 and other Sports Utilities Vehicles (SUVs) for transportation in the desert-warren peninsula.

The decade-long Islamist militant insurgency in North Sinai has intensified in the past two years following the ousted Mohamed Morsi.

The insurgency has left hundreds of army and police personnel killed.

The army has also announced the killing of hundreds of members of Islamist groups.

MOI : Egypt's security forces kill 9 'terrorists' during raid in 6 of October city

Egypt's security forces investigate the site of an explosion in Six of October district in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Egyptian security forces on Wednesday killed nine members of the Muslim Brotherhood during a raid on their hide-out apartment in the western Cairo suburb of 6 of October city, the interior ministry said.

The  ministry said in a statement on Wednesday night that police had received intelligence information that the group was planning to carry out "terrorist" attacks around the date of the second anniversary of the 30 June mass protests which led to the overthrow of ousted Mohamed Morsi.

The officers shot the men after they opened fire on them while attempting to escape, Giza deputy security director Magdy Abd El-Aal had told told Ahram Arabic news website earlier in the evening.

The now-banned Muslim Brotherhood, which has been blamed by the government for orchestrating terrorist attacks against security forces in the last two years, denied that the men were armed.

The deadly raid came hours after militants from the Islamic State group killed dozens of soldiers and civilians in wide-scale simultaneous assaults on several military checkpoints in Egypt's North Sinai, and two days after the assassination  of the country's top prosecutor in a car bombing in Cairo.

Egypt's El-Sisi meets head of Sinai development body

President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met on Sunday with the head of the National Agency for the Development of the Sinai Peninsula, a presidential statement said.

Major-General Shawqi Rashwan reported to El-Sisi on ongoing plans for developing the long-neglected and insurgency-stricken peninsula.

Rashwan propsed to El-Sisi, according to the statement, establishing mining companies to create jobs opportunities for young people. He also updated the president on progress in distribution of land to residents whereby 25 percent would be allocated to the native Bedouin population.

The National Body for the Development of the Sinai Peninsula was founded in 2012. It works on developing plans for projects and investment in Sinai and coordinating with the cabinet and other state bodies.

Sinai’s population amounts to about 590,000 residents, mostly native residents.

The Peninsula is divided administratively into two governorates: North Sinai and South Sinai. 

Residents of the rugged central Sinai area have been demanding the creation of a new governorate to accommodate their special needs.

The peninsula as a whole has suffered from lack of investment in basic infrastructure and economic development projects since the end of Israeli occupation in 1982.

However, the southern coastal stretch of the peninsula on the Red Sea has generally fared better than the rest of Sinai due to a thriving tourism industry in and around cities such as Sharm El-Sheikh, Dahab and Nuweiba.

In the northern part, which overlooks the Mediterranean, the Egyptian army has been battling a decade-long Islamist militant insurgency in the peninsula, which has intensified over the past two years since the ouster of Islamist Mohamed Morsi.

IED kills three policemen in North Sinai

A police officer and two conscripts were killed on Monday morning in the Rafah area in north Sinai as an IED blasted through their armoured personnel carrier, As reported. At least one soldier was injured.

North Sinai governorate has raised the alarm level after the attack.

The entrances and exits to the governorate have also been sealed.

Thousands mourn #soldiers #killed in #Sinai #attacks

A screenshot from a television broadcast of the funeral of a soldier in the Nile Delta governorate of Gharbiya

Thousands of mourners attended the funerals of a number of Egyptian soldiers who were killed in coordinated militant attacks in Sinai on Thursday.

Egyptian television stations showed thousands of people marching in funeral processions in the Nile Delta governorates of Gharbiya and Kafr El-Sheikh, and in the canal city of Suez. Local media reported similar turnout in other governorates across Egypt.

The crowd in Gharbiya chanted: “The people want an iron fist” and demanded “the execution of the Muslim Brotherhood”.

In Suez, thousands led by the governor and the chief of staff of the third field army marched in the home village of Captain Mohamed Adel Khater, who was among those killed during the militant attack.

Sinai-based militant group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis claimed responsibility for Thursday's attacks which killed at least 30 people, mostly soldiers.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi linked the violence to the Muslim Brotherhood, saying that the deaths were a "price Egyptians were paying" for their ouster of the group's leader from the presidency in 2013.

The group however has denied any link with militant attacks and on Friday called on the Egyptian army to "return to their barracks" in order to prevent bloodshed in Sinai.

Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim, Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab, and Minster of Defence Sedky Sobhi received the bodies of the victims at a military airport in Cairo after they were flown from Arish in caskets draped in the Egyptian flag. 

Sisi cuts short AU visit after Sinai attacks kill at least 30

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi will cut short his visit to Ethiopia and return to Egypt on Friday, following a series of militant attacks in North Sinai on Thursday night that left at least 30 people dead.

El-Sisi was in Addis Ababa to attend the 24th African Union summit meeting. He will return to Cairo after attending the opening session,  state-run news agency MENA reported.

 A photo from the 24 October 2014 attacks in North Sinai which killed 32 army soldiers

A series of deadly militant attacks involving mortar attacks and car bombs targeted several military and police sites in North Sinai on Thursday. Medical and security sources estimated the dead at 30, including several civilians.

Exact figures for casualties have yet to be announced by officials. The health ministry’s North Sinai undersecretary, Tariq Khater, told on Friday morning that he is not authorised to reveal the figures due to the military nature of the incidents.

Reuters quoted security sources as saying that military planes had left Sinai on Friday morning carrying thirty body bags. The sources also reportedly said that five men were critically injured and that the death toll was expected to rise.

According to Reuters, medical sources said that two children had been killed in Thursday’s violence. 

Following the attack, the armed forces said in a statement that the violence came in response to the "successful" security campaign against militants in the restive province, without elaborating further on the number killed.

Attacks by militant groups based in North Sinai have spiked since the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, with security forces particularly targeted. The armed forces have responded by waging a military campaign aimed at eradicating militants from Sinai.

Sinai-based militant group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis claimed responsibility for Thursday's attacks on an affiliated Twitter account.

The group, which has said it is behind a number of attacks in the peninsula, recently pledged its allegiance to the Islamic State (IS), the militant group which controls large swathes in Iraq and Syria.  

A security source told that the army have responded to Thursday’s attacks by starting wide military offensives throughout North Sinai, targeting terrorist hideouts using Apache helicopters and un-manned planes.

The deadly attacks came only days after Egypt had marked the fourth anniversary of the 25 January Revolution which ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The anniversary had been marked by increased tensions nationwide; a series of improvised bombs went off across the country over the last week, mainly targeting railroad tracks and electricity pylons, while 23 people died in violent clashes with police on the day of the anniversary.

The US has condemned Thursday’s violence. "The United States remains steadfast in its support of the Egyptian government’s efforts to combat the threat of terrorism in Egypt," an official statement read.

In Video : (Graphic Warning +18 Adults Only) Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis Terrorists abduct and kill Egyptian Policeman

Terrorists Release Video Showing ‘Execution’ Of Egyptian Policeman



Egypt’s deadliest militant group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis released on Sunday a video showing the abduction and killing of a police officer earlier in Sinai.

The militant group released a video on a twitter account believed to belong to it where it shows gunmen capturing and killing a man who identified himself as police officer Ayman al-Desouki.
 

 
Desouki said in the video that it was Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis who abducted him. In the video, Desouki is apparently hardly forced to list “abuses” by the Ministry of Interior against prisoners.



Desouki being kidnapped at a ‘militant checkpoint’

Unidentified gunmen kidnapped Desouki on January 11; he worked at the Rafah border-crossing. Desouki’s body was found by the armed forces in North Sinai two days later, with two gunshots to the head.

Armed forces spokesman Mohamed Samir accused “terrorist elements” of killing the officer, in a statement announcing Desouki’s death, released on January 13.

The Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, which changed its name to Sinai Province since pledging allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria in November 2014, has claimed responsibility for several militant attacks committed since the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi.



The group claimed responsibility for an attack on a security checkpoint in Sinai in October 2014 which rendered over 30 security personnel killed.

Militants in North Sinai have recently engaged in the kidnap and execution of Sinai residents whom they accuse of cooperation with security apparatuses.

Breaking News : : Army Kidnapped Egyptian police captain in Sinai found dead

Ayman El-Desouki was kidnapped while travelling on a bus in North Sinai on Monday



 Kidnapped police captain Ayman El-Desouki was found dead on Tuesday in the restive Sinai Peninsula, Egypt's army announced in a statement.

A military spokesperson described the killing as "cowardly."

"We extend our deep condolences to the family of the late policeman, and we stress that such incidents increase our determination to fight all kinds of terrorism in Egypt," the statement read.

El-Desouki, an officer in the ports security division, was on a bus in North Sinai on Monday when alleged members of militant group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis(ABM)  – who had set up a checkpoint – searched the bus and took him to an unknown location.

Egypt`s general prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, imposed on Monday a gag order on the incident because the matter was still being investigated.

ABM, which has claimed responsibility for a number of terrorist attacks, including the killing of 30 army personnel in October, pledged allegiance to Islamic State last November.

Egypt’s security forces have been facing a decade-long jihadist insurgency based in the Sinai Peninsula, with militant attacks increasing over the past 18 months and expanding into Cairo and the Nile Delta, killing hundreds of army and police personnel.