IS suicide bombers attack army checkpoints in Egypt; 60 killed

Cairo, July 1

At least 60 Egyptian soldiers were killed on Wednesday as heavily-armed IS militants launched a wave of simultaneous attacks on army checkpoints, including three suicide bombings, in one of the biggest assaults in the restive Sinai Peninsula.

"More than 70 terrorist elements waged simultaneous attacks against five security checkpoints in North Sinai," army spokesperson Brigadier General Mohamed Samir said in a statement on his Facebook page.

Fighting between the dreaded militants and the soldiers is ongoing, with army and police currently chasing the attackers using ground and air force, security sources said.

The attack, which occurred in Sheikh Zuweid city of North Sinai, included suicide car bombings and heavy weapons that damaged large parts of the checkpoints, the sources said.

There were conflicting reports of casualty figures, with the sources saying at least 60 soldiers were killed while Samir put the number of those killed and injured so far much lower — at 10.

The toll could not be immediately verified in the aftermath of the major attack.

The militants also took soldiers captive and seized weapons and several armoured vehicles, officials said.

The Islamic State's Egypt affiliate, Sinai Province, claimed responsibility for the attacks, it said in an online statement.

"In a blessed raid enabled by God, the lions of the caliphate have simultaneously attacked more than 15 checkpoints belonging to the apostate army," the Sinai-based militant group Ansar Beit el-Maqdes, which changed its name after pledging allegiance to the IS, said.

The group said it attacked over 15 security sites and had carried out three suicide bombings. The outfit has claimed responsibility of many attacks against security forces in North Sinai.

Twenty-three militants were killed in the attacks, the military said in a statement.

The attacks come two days after the assassination of the Egypt's general prosecutor Hisham Barakat in a car bomb attack here and a day after President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi vowed to step up a two-year crackdown on militants.

Egypt's North Sinai has witnessed many violent attacks by militants since the January 2011 revolution that toppled the ex-president Hosni Mubarak.

The attacks targeting police and military increased after the ouster of Islamist ex-president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 by military following massive protests against his rule.

Over 600 security personnel have been reported killed since then.

The military has launched security campaigns in the area, arrested suspects and demolished houses that belong to terrorists, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip. PTI