At least 30 soldiers have been killed in a fresh spate of simultaneous attacks by suspected Islamist militants on Egyptian army checkpoints in the restive Sinai Peninsula, security officials said.
The attack targeted at least six checkpoints south of the town of Sheikh Zuweid. The assailants also took soldiers captive and seized several armoured vehicles, reported The Washington Times.
This act of violence comes just two days after one of Egypt’s top prosecutors, Hisham Barakat, was assassinated in Cairo and a day after President Abdel-Fattah al Sissi pledged to step up two-year crackdown on the militants.
The attacks are being seen as a direct consequence of al Sissi’s pledge to carry out justice for Barakat’s killing and possibly move to execute Muslim Brotherhood leaders.
Militants in northern Sinai, which borders Israel and the Gaza Strip, have long battled the country’s security forces but intensified their attacks after military ousted former President Mohammed Morsi in July 2013. (ANI)