6 injured in car blast in Egypt’s Al-Arish

Three policemen and three civilians were injured on Sunday after a car bomb detonated in North Sinai’s Al-Arish, Egypt’s interior ministry has said.

According to a ministry statement, a suicide bomber was driving a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device which detonated next to a passing police patrol.

According to statement, the limbs of a person, believed to be the assailant’s, were found at the scene.

Initial reports had said that one Egyptian police officer and four civilians were injured in the incident, which took place near a bridge in the Granada district.

The injured were transferred to hospital.

On Saturday, the army said that over the weekend four armed forces personnel were killed in North Sinai amid ongoing operations against militants in Al-Arish, Rafah and Sheikh Zuwaid.

The army said six militants were killed during the most recent confrontations.

Last week, Egypt’s army launched a new campaign to fight Islamist militants in North Sinai, killing over 50 in response to a militant attack two weeks ago that killed 12 soldiers and injured six others.

In mid-October, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi extended a state of emergency in designated areas of the North Sinai governorate for three more months, starting 31 October.

A state of emergency was originally declared in certain areas of the restive province in August 2013, and has been consecutively renewed ever since.

The army and police have been battling an entrenched Islamist insurgency for several years in North Sinai.

Source: Ahram Online

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