Breaking : UPDATED: Six soldiers killed in North ‪#‎Sinai‬ attack

Roadside bomb hits armoured vehicle on Al-Arish to Sheikh Zuweid highway

A first lieutenant, a sergeant and four conscripts were killed when their armoured vehicle was bombed in North Sinai on Sunday morning, army spokesman Mohamed Samir announced on Sunday.

Two other soldiers were also injured when the roadside bomb exploded on the Al-Arish to Sheikh Zuweid highway.

The injured were taken to Al-Arish military hospital.

Egypt's army has been fighting a decade-long militant Islamist insurgency that has spiked since the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi in summer 2013.

Hundreds of police and soldiers as well civilians have been killed in militant attacks.

Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, an Islamist militant group, has claimed many of the attacks against the army and police in Sinai.

In November 2014, the group swore allegiance to Islamic State, which has taken over vast areas of Syria and Iraq and now operates in Libya.

Breaking : #Sisi forms new military entity to combat terrorism in #Egypt's #Sinai

Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed forces with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi standing a moment of silence for the 31 martyrs of Sinai ahead of their meeting on October 25, 2014

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi formed a unified counter-terrorism entity on Saturday, two days after a series of militant attacks killed at least 30 people in the peninsula.

After a meeting with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), El-Sisi issued a decree naming Chief of Staff Osama Roshdy as head of the unit, which will deal with terrorist threats in parts of Egypt to the east of Suez – including the restive Sinai Peninsula.

Roshdy has been promoted to lieutenant-general.

He was born in 1957 in the governorate of Daqahlia in the Nile Delta. He graduated from the military faculty in 1970 and joined the infantry.

He has an MA in military sciences and is married with three children.

Scores of Egyptian soldiers were killed in coordinated militant attacks in North Sinai on Thursday night. An exact death toll has not been confirmed by military officials, but media reports suggest at least 30 died in the attacks, including a number of civilians.

Speaking about the death toll, Tariq Khater, undersecretary for North Sinai in the health ministry, told that only the military can issue an official death toll.

Security approval required for Egyptian travellers to Turkey and Iraq: MOI

Egyptian travellers aged 18 to 40 will be subject to the provision at a time the interior ministry calls 'exceptional' for the region

 

Ministry of interior stipulates security approval from pass control for travelers to Turkey and Iraq

Egyptians wishing to travel to Turkey or Iraq are now required to get security approval from passport control authorities.

General Aiman Hamed, chief of the media bureau for the interior ministry told that the decision came earlier this week during “exceptional timing" for the region.

Hamed mentioned that the decision only affects travelers between 18 and 40 years of age.

The new decision does not affect Libya, which has only recently stipulated that Egyptians acquire a visa to cross the border after decades of unrestricted border movement.

Turkey is currently the easiest border to cross into northern Syria through the crossings of Gaziantep and Bab Al-Hawa. Cities in northern Syria, particularly Raqqah and large parts of Aleppo have fallen under the control of the Islamic State organisation, escalating instability in the restless country.

IS has took over Mosul city in Iraq last June without a significant resistance from Iraqi forces. Battles are also ongoing in Iraq, especially around Beiji oil refinery in Saladin province and in Anbar.

Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, a jihadist group operating in Egypt’s North Sinai governorate pledged loyalty to IS in early November shortly after a major militant attack in the Sheikh Zuweid border city that left more than 30 army personnel dead and dozens injured.

The Egyptian extremist group has claimed dozens of militant operations against the Egyptian police and army that have killed dozens of security personnel throughout the past year.

The recent decision by the interior minister coincides with a broad campaign launched by the armed forces that aims to "purge North Sinai of terrorist elements.” The campaign includes a two-phased plan to create a buffer zone along 1,500 metres on the border with the Gaza Strip; the first phase resulted in the evacuation of tens of families and the destruction of hundreds of houses in the border city of Rafah.