News / Egypt

Velayat Sina militants kill three civilians in attack

Sunday, 02 October 2016 10:42 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 02 October 2016 10:49 AM ]

A member of the Egyptian security forces stands next to a damaged van following a roadside bomb blast that wounded 20 Egyptian policemen on the outskirts of the northern Sinai’s provincial capital of el-Arish, July 9, 2015 (Photo by AFP)

A bombing attack on a civilian vehicle in Egypt has left three people dead and two more wounded in the country’s restive Sinai Peninsula.

Egyptian media reported on Sunday that a police officer escorting the vehicle — which belonged to an electric company — in the el-Arish area was also wounded in the attack.

Members of the Takfiri militant group Velayat Sinai, previously known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Velayat Sinai has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks targeting Egyptian security forces and government officials in the Sinai Peninsula and the capital, Cairo.

On Saturday, the Takfiris gunned down five police officers in the city of el-Arish, the provincial capital and the largest city of North Sinai.

On the same day, the terrorists wounded nine Egyptian security forces in a roadside bombing in the north Sinai town of Rafah. One later died of his wounds.

An Egyptian soldier stands on an armored vehicle in el-Arish region, North Sinai, Egypt, January 31, 2015. (Photo by AP)

Egyptian forces have been attempting to eradicate militancy on the Sinai Peninsula for years.

A state of emergency was declared across the peninsula in October 2014, following a deadly assault that claimed the lives of over 30 Egyptian soldiers.

In September 2015, Egyptian forces launched a massive operation against militant positions in northern Sinai following coordinated terrorist attacks on several army checkpoints that claimed the lives of 21 soldiers in July the same year.

The Velayat Sinai militant group in 2014 pledged allegiance to the Daesh terrorist group, which is mainly active in Iraq and Syria.

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