Militant group claims responsibility for Sinai attacks on army, police
An Egyptian militant organization affiliated with the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for simultaneous attacks that struck more than a dozen army and police targets in three towns in the Sinai Peninsula, killing at least 26 security officers.
Following the attacks, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi cut short a trip to Ethiopia to return to Cairo, the state MENA news agency reported.
The wide-ranging attacks late on Thursday required a previously unseen level of coordination. At least one car bomb was set off outside a military base, while mortars were simultaneously fired at the base, toppling some buildings and leaving soldiers buried under the debris, official said.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki expressed US condemnation of the attacks, adding that the "United States remains steadfast in its support of the Egyptian government's efforts to combat the threat of terrorism in Egypt".
An Egyptian army spokesman immediately blamed former Islamist President Mohammed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood for orchestrating the attacks. Twenty-five soldiers and a policeman were among those killed.
Along with the military base that was hit, the other attacks included mortar rounds fired at a hotel, a police club and more than a dozen checkpoints, officials said. The militants struck the Northern Sinai provincial capital el-Arish, the nearby town of Sheik Zuwayid and the town of Rafah bordering Gaza.
Hours before the attacks, the IS affiliate in Egypt posted pictures of masked militants dressed in black on its Twitter account. They were carrying rocket-propelled grenades while flying the IS black flag.
The militant group later claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying on Twitter that two suicide bombers and three car bombs struck an army base and adjacent security building in el-Arish.
The post called it "an extensive simultaneous offensive for the soldiers of the caliphate" and listed at least eight checkpoints that also came under attack in the three locations.
The group, previously known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, has launched several attacks against police and the army in Sinai in recent years. It was initially inspired by al-Qaida, but last year, it pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, which controls large parts of Syria and Iraq.
(China Daily 01/31/2015 page12)
