Two more Egyptian soldiers killed in Sinai

Incident follows attempted car bomb attack and assaults on checkpoints on Wednesday

Illustrative: The charred remains of an armored vehicle are loaded onto a truck after a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a police checkpoint in el-Arish, Egypt, Friday, July 12, 2013. (photo credit: AP/Muhammed Sabry)
Illustrative: The charred remains of an armored vehicle are loaded onto a truck after a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a police checkpoint in el-Arish, Egypt, Friday, July 12, 2013. (photo credit: AP/Muhammed Sabry)

The wave of violence sweeping across Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula continued Thursday, as suspected Islamic militants killed two soldiers and wounded four others in a shooting attack on a military checkpoint.

The attack took place near the northern Sinai town of Sheikh Zuweid, the latest in a series of such incidents since the July 3 ouster of President Mohammed Morsi.

On Wednesday a car bomb detonated near a police training camp close to the northern Sinai city of el-Arish, killing three militants, Egyptian media reported.

Also in the northern Sinai on Wednesday, Islamists attacked security checkpoints in el-Arish and Sheikh Zuweid, killing a civilian and a soldier. Three troops were wounded, security officials said.

A string of militant attacks in the Sinai since Morsi’s fall has killed a total of 17 members of the security forces and at least five civilians.

A bomb blast outside the security headquarters Wednesday in one of Egypt’s Nile Delta cities raised fears of deteriorating security after Morsi’s ouster.

The explosion appeared to target police in the provincial capital city of Mansoura in the delta province of Dakahliya. It raised fears that indiscriminate attacks targeting security forces could expand to larger cities beyond the targets in northern Sinai.

Security officials said 19 people were wounded — 13 policemen and six civilians — when the bomb outside the security directorate in Mansoura exploded after midnight. The city was bustling with people as is common during the Islamic month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast during the day and stay up late to eat and pray.

Police officials exchanged gunfire with unidentified people inside a nearby abandoned building afterward. No further details were immediately available.

Eleven people have been killed in clashes between supporters and opponents of the ousted president since Monday. Most were killed in pre-dawn street battles near a pro-Morsi protest camp.

The bloodshed is widening the divisions between Morsi’s supporters and the military-backed administration and diminishing the chances of reconciliation.

The latest violence underlines the depth of the polarization in Egypt. The deposed president’s family denounced the military in a Monday news conference, accusing it of “kidnapping” him, and European diplomats urged that he be released.

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