Roadside bomb kills 2 policemen in Egypt’s Sinai

By Khaled al-Jayoushi

CAIRO (AA) – Two policemen were killed by a roadside bomb on Saturday in Egypt’s restive Sinai Peninsula, according to a local security source.

Another police conscript was injured when a police vehicle struck the bomb in the North Sinai city of Arish, the source said anonymously as he was unauthorized to speak to media.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

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

The Egyptian security forces, meanwhile, continue to wage a fierce campaign -- involving elements from both the police and the 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 said to have links to the Daesh terrorist organization.