Separate attacks kill 3 in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula

By Khaled al-Jioushi

CAIRO (AA) – Three Egyptian security personnel were killed and another nine people injured in separate attacks in Egypt’s volatile Sinai Peninsula, according to a local security source.

The source, who spoke to Anadolu Agency anonymously due to restrictions on speaking to media, said two policemen had been killed and another five injured late Thursday when unidentified attackers fired a rocket at their vehicle in the town of Sheikh Zuweid in the peninsula’s northeast.

In a separate incident early Friday, an Egyptian soldier was shot dead by a sniper in Sinai’s nearby Al-Masoorah area, the source added.

And in a third incident on Friday, four civilians were injured when a mortar shell fired by unknown attackers struck their home in Sheikh Zuwaid’s Al-Thaheer district, according to the same source.

Egypt’s Interior Ministry has yet to comment on any of the reported attacks, for which no group has claimed responsibility.

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

Egyptian security forces, meanwhile, have continued to wage a fierce campaign in the peninsula -- 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 ("Sinai Province") group, which is said to have sworn allegiance to the Daesh terrorist organization.