Roadside bomb kills senior army officer in Egypt’s Sinai

Egyptian security and hospital officials say a roadside bomb planted by Islamic militants in the Sinai Peninsula has hit a military vehicle, killing a senior army officer.

They say the colonel, who was the military commander of the town of Bir al-Abd, was killed while patrolling in an armored vehicle in an area just outside the town.

Bir al-Abd was the scene of deadliest terrorist attack against civilians on Nov. 24, when militants killed 311 worshippers in a mosque. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has vowed to use “brute force” to crush the long-running insurgency in northern Sinai and given the military and police three months to restore “security and stability” there.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

— AP