Eight Egyptian Soldiers Killed In ISIS IED Attack In Northern Sinai

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On August 12^th, a roadside bomb exploded in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, killing eight members of Egypt’s security forces, including an officer, while six others were wounded.

The troops were riding an armoured vehicle when the bomb went off in New Rafah, a town on the border with the Gaza Strip.

The report was made by an anonymous source, cited by Al Jazeera.

The wounded, who suffered serious injuries, were transferred to a military hospital in the nearby Mediterranean city of el-Arish.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on an affiliate website.

In a similar attack last month, ISIS fighters ambushed a checkpoint in the town of Sheikh Zuweid, killing at least five troops and wounding at least six others.

Egypt has been fighting a terrorist insurgency in northern Sinai for years.

Violence and instability there intensified after the 2013 military coup that removed Mohamed Morsi, an elected but divisive president, amid nationwide protests against his brief rule.

Also on August 12^th, the spokesman of Egypt’s armed forces, Lieutenant-Colonel Gharib Abdel Hafez Gharib, issued a statement saying nine troops were killed and wounded in clashes in Sinai.

Gharib added the armed forces killed 13 fighters and confiscated 15 automatic rifles and ammunition in northern and central Sinai. He did not specify when exactly these killings happened.

The fight against armed groups in Sinai has largely taken place hidden from the public eye, with journalists, non-residents and outside observers barred from the area. The conflict has also been kept at a distance from tourist resorts at the southern end of the peninsula.

On August 1^st, another eight Egyptian army soldiers were killed in recent “anti-terrorism operations”, the armed forces said.

It was not clear whether all the soldiers were killed in northern Sinai or in various other regions.

The statement said 89 fighters were killed during the operations.

The army said it confiscated different types of arms and ammunition during the operations and destroyed hundreds of explosive devices and some explosive belts.

It also destroyed 13 tunnel entrances used to infiltrate the north Sinai region, which has borders with the Gaza Strip and Israel.

Air forces, in coordination with border guards, also attacked and destroyed 200 vehicles, some of them loaded with arms and ammunition, while trying to penetrate the western and southern borders of the country, the statement said.

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