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Roadside bombing in Sinai targets security forces vehicle

According to security and medical officials, the security forces were patrolling in the town of Bir al Abd when their armoured vehicle was hit by a remotely-detonated bomb.

Reuters

Egypt's security forces guard the road after they thwarted a suicide bomb attack outside a church a in Qalyubiyah, a governorate north of Cairo, Egypt, August 11, 2018.

A roadside bomb has gone off in Egypt's northern Sinai Peninsula, killing two members of the country's security forces and wounding five.

According to security and medical officials, the security forces were patrolling in the town of Bir al Abd when their armoured vehicle was hit by a remotely-detonated bomb on Friday. The wounded were transferred to a military hospital in Sinai's coastal city of El Arish. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the attacks with the media.

Friday’s bombing was the second in the past three days.

On Wednesday, one member of the security forces was killed and three were wounded in a roadside bombing in a village near Rafah, a town on the border with the Gaza Strip.

There was no clear claim of responsibility for Friday's attack, but Daesh terror group posted a statement on Friday, saying it was behind Wednesday's bombing and three other recent attacks. The claims could not be independently verified.

Fight against Daesh

Egypt has been battling a Daesh-led insurgency in Sinai that intensified after the military overthrew president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. The militants have carried out scores of attacks, mainly targeting security forces and minority Christians.

The conflict has largely taken place out of the public arena, with journalists and outside observers barred from the area. So far, the fighting has not expanded to the southern end of the peninsula, where popular Red Sea tourist resorts are located.

But in 2015, a Daesh bombing brought down over Sinai a Russian passenger plane that had departed from the resort Sharm el Sheikh, killing all 224 people on board.

In February 2018, the Egyptian military launched a massive operation in Sinai and also in parts of the Nile Delta region and the desert along the country’s western border with Libya.

Since then, the pace of Daesh attacks has diminished.