A group linked to ISIS has claimed responsibility for multiple attacks, including suicide car bombings, in northern Sinai Peninsula that killed 50 Egyptian soldiers, security, and other military personnel Wednesday morning. Egypt responded with F-16 fighter jets bombing Islamic State militant positions in Sinai.
The Ansar Byt al-Maqdis terror group that allies itself with the Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the simultaneous attacks on police stations and military checkpoints in the town of Sheikh Zuweid near the Gaza border. The militants took up positions throughout the city and planted landmines to cut off access to police stations.
Reports circulated on social media that the city was under the control of ISIS but a Tweet from a “Sheikh Zuweid policeman from inside station” clarified, “We are under siege. City not under control of ISIS, otherwise I wouldn’t answer” (International Business Times, IBT).
“The scope and intensity of the attacks underscored the resilience and advanced planning by the militants who have for years battled Egyptian security forces in northern Sinai,” reported The Times of Israel.
The incident comes just one day after Egypt’s president promised to strengthen the fight against militant Islamists. The group claimed to have targeted 15 army and police stations, conducted three suicide bombings, seized weapons from armored vehicles, and taken soldiers captive. Over 50 other soldiers were wounded.
As of 6:20 pm Wednesday night Israel time, The Times of Israel reported Egyptian officials as saying the fighting was ongoing with “scores of militants…besieging Sheikh Zuweid’s main police station” with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, and gunfire with the dozens of police inside (The Times of Israel).
With the Sinai Peninsula bordering Gaza and Israel, action this close to the boundaries is always of concern for Israel. It seems that ISIS is inching its way closer and closer to Israel. They fight to gain more ground in Syria that lies on Israel’s northern border. Now, with clear intent to overtake the city, a group affiliated with ISIS has carried out this wave of orchestrated attacks on a town in northern Sinai not far from Israel’s southern border.
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