2 Egypt troops killed, policeman hurt in Sinai attacks
Sinai has remained at epicenter of deadly insurgency since 2013 coup against Egypt’s first freely elected president
By Khaled al-Jayoushi
CAIRO (AA) - At least two Egyptian army personnel were killed and one policeman injured late Wednesday in two separate attacks in Egypt’s volatile Sinai Peninsula, according to a local security source.
"Two army personnel were killed in an attack on a checkpoint in the central Sinai village of Al-Rid," the source, speaking anonymously due to restrictions on talking to media, told Anadolu Agency.
In a separate incident not long afterward, a policeman was injured when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Sinai’s northeastern city of Al-Arish.
Army troops have since begun sweeping operations with a view to ridding the area of mines and explosives, the same source said, noting that the dead and injured had been transferred to an Al-Arish military hospital.
No group has claimed responsibility for Thursday’s twin attacks, but the Egyptian authorities typically blame such incidents on Sinai-based militants with alleged links to the Daesh terrorist group.
Egyptian army spokesman Tamer Rifai said in a statement posted on Facebook that army forces had recently carried out several raids targeting “terrorist hotbeds” in central Sinai.
“Our forces managed to arrest two terrorists [in central Sinai] and destroy 12 of their hideouts in the same area,” Rifai said.
Sinai has remained at the epicenter of a deadly militant insurgency since 2013, when Mohamed Morsi -- Egypt’s first freely-elected president -- was ousted in a military coup.
Since then, hundreds of Egyptian security personnel have been killed across the restive peninsula.
Egyptian security forces, meanwhile, continue to wage a fierce campaign -- involving elements of both the police and army -- against what they describe as Sinai-based "terrorist groups".
Egypt’s army-backed authorities say they are battling the Welayat Sinai ("Province of Sinai") group, which is alleged to have links with Daesh.
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