5 Egyptian civilians killed in Sinai mortar attack

Following deadly skirmishes last week, not immediately clear who fired the projectile that also left 4 wounded

By AFP 8 July 2015, 1:29 pm

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An Egyptian army tank patrols on the Egyptian side of the border with Gaza, July 2, 2015 (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

CAIRO, Egypt — Five Egyptian civilians were killed on Wednesday when a mortar round hit a house in a North Sinai village where the army is battling jihadist insurgents, security officials said.

It was not immediately clear who fired the projectile, which also wounded four people. Both soldiers and militants use mortars in skirmishes.

The military said on Monday it had killed 241 militants in the Sinai between July 1 and 5, while losing 21 soldiers in jihadist attacks.

Over Tuesday and Wednesday, a handful of fighters were killed amid a fresh wave of airstrikes in central Sinai and the Sheikh Zuweid area, beside the Israel-Gaza border.

Many of the dead militants were foreign born, the army said.

The military has poured troops and armor into the peninsula where security forces have been fighting an Islamist insurgency since then-army chief and now President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi ousted president Mohammed Morsi in July 2013.

The leading militant group in the peninsula, which borders Israel and the Gaza Strip, has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.