IS attack on Egyptian checkpoint kills 13 policemen

At least 13 policemen were killed in an armed attack on a checkpoint in the North Sinai city of Arish on Saturday, Egypt’s interior ministry said in an official statement.

Sources told Al-Ahram Arabic news website that security forces are currently undertaking operations to catch the armed men, who launched mortar shells at the checkpoint in the El-Safa neighbourhood of the city.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, but said in a statement that it had deployed a suicide bomber who blew up a car at the checkpoint, which militants then raided, according to AFP. Earlier, sources told Al-Ahram Arabic’s reporter that ambulances were not able to reach the site of the attack.

Egyptian forces are grappling with an Islamist insurgency based in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, which spiked following the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

Hundreds of police and troops have since been killed in militant attacks.

source: Ahram Online