Egypt says 7 policemen killed in Sinai jihadist attack

Assault targets an ‘assembly center’ for police near regional capital El-Arish, according to interior ministry

By Agencies 26 June 2019, 12:42 pm Edit

Illustrative: Egyptian policemen driving on a road leading to the North Sinai provincial capital of El-Arish, July 26, 2018. (AFP/Khaled DESOUKI)

Illustrative -- A picture taken on July 26, 2018, shows Egyptian policemen driving on a road leading to the North Sinai provincial capital of El-Arish. (AFP PHOTO / Khaled DESOUKI)

Seven police officers were killed in a jihadist attack in restive North Sinai, Egypt’s interior ministry said Wednesday.

The attack near the regional capital El-Arish targeted an “assembly center” for police, according to the ministry.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

North Sinai has long been a center of insurgents and Egyptian authorities last year launched an offensive against the jihadists.

Egypt has been battling Islamic terrorists for years, but the insurgency gathered steam and grew deadlier after the 2013 ouster of an Islamist president by President Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi, then defense minister.

The country’s security forces launched an all-out offensive against militants in February last year.