Daesh claims deadly truck-bomb attack in Egypt’s Sinai

By Hussein al-Qabbani

CAIRO (AA) – The Daesh terrorist group has claimed responsibility for a Monday truck-bomb attack in the Sinai Peninsula that left at least nine Egyptian policemen dead, according to a statement published by the Daesh-linked Amaq news agency.

According to the statement, a total of 25 policemen were killed -- and two police vehicles destroyed -- in Monday’s attack.

Local security sources told Anadolu Agency earlier that only nine policemen were killed -- and another ten injured -- when a massive truck bomb exploded at a security checkpoint near the city of Arish in the peninsula’s northeast.

Since 2013, when Mohamed Morsi -- Egypt’s first freely-elected president -- was ousted in a military coup, hundreds of Egyptian security personnel have been killed amid an ongoing militant insurgency in Sinai.

Egyptian security forces continue to wage a fierce campaign, involving elements from 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.