Attack kills Egyptian soldier in restive Sinai
Two separate attacks targeting security forces in Egypt’s restive Sinai Province have left one soldier killed and another wounded, a day after 14 people were killed in the area in twin bombings.
Security officials confirmed Monday that one soldier was killed after gunmen opened fire at a checkpoint near the border with the Gaza strip. They said another soldier suffered injuries in a similar attack on another checkpoint.
The recent deaths came as the Egyptian army continues to bolster its presence in the restive region which has been plagued by an unprecedented militancy since Egypt’s first democratically-elected president, Mohamed Morsi, was ousted in July 2013 by the then army chief and the current President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
No group has claimed the Monday attacks yet but they seem to be in line with similar moves by the so-called Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, a militant group designated by Cairo as terrorist, which has also pledged allegiance to ISIL. The group said it was behind the deadly twin bombings on Sunday.
Six soldiers were killed after a roadside bomb exploded near the town of Sheikh Zuweid on Sunday. Hours later, an attack on a police station in the provincial capital el-Arish resulted in eight more deaths.
On Sunday, Egyptian defense authorities announced a reshuffle in some major divisions of the army, including the country’s Second Army, which is a regional division deployed along the Suez Canal and in the North Sinai. Major General Nasser el-Assy replaced Major General Mohamed el-Shahat as the head of the division in what many said could bolster the army’s position in the battle against the terrorists in the region.
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