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Al-Arish hospital in Sinai
Al-Arish hospital in Sinai, where the wounded were taken. Photograph: Reuters
Al-Arish hospital in Sinai, where the wounded were taken. Photograph: Reuters

Suspected Isis gunmen kill 12 members of Egyptian security forces

This article is more than 7 years old

Attack on checkpoint also leaves eight injured in central Sinai area, which had so far escaped campaign of attacks

Suspected Islamic State gunmen have killed 12 members of Egypt’s security forces in North Sinai province and injured eight more in an attack on a checkpoint, medical and security sources told Reuters.

The attack took place on Friday 25 miles away from the town of Bir al-Abd, making it the first major attack in the central Sinai area, which had so far escaped a campaign of Islamist attacks. It was carried out using assault rifles and some heavier weapons, the sources said. The wounded were taken to hospital in al-Arish.

It was not clear if the dead and injured belonged to the military, the police, or a joint force. Official military and police spokesmen could not be immediately reached for comment.

An Islamist insurgency in the rugged and thinly populated Sinai peninsula gained pace after the Egyptian military overthrew the elected president, Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s oldest Islamist movement, in mid-2013 following mass protests against his rule.

The militant group staging the insurgency pledged allegiance to Isis in 2014 and changed its name from Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis to Sinai Province. It is blamed for the killing of hundreds of soldiers and policemen, and has started to attack western targets within Egypt.

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