3 cops, driver gunned down in Sinai attack

Assailants intercept taxi carrying policemen in El-Arish, where army has battled jihadi insurgency for years

CAIRO — Gunmen killed three Egyptian policeman and a civilian on Wednesday in the Sinai Peninsula, where the military is battling a jihadist insurgency, the interior ministry said.

The gunmen in a car intercepted a taxi carrying the policemen in the north Sinai capital of El-Arish and killed them before fleeing the scene, the ministry said in a statement.

The driver was seriously wounded and later died in a hospital.

Jihadists have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since the military overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

They pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group more than a year later, and their attacks have persisted despite a sweeping military campaign in the peninsula, which borders Israel and the Gaza strip.

The jihadists have also targeted foreigners, claiming a 2015 bombing of a Russian airliner carrying holidaymakers home from a Sinai resort that killed all 224 people on board.

[mappress mapid=”5914″]

AP contributed to this report