(AFP Photo)
By Basil El-Dabh and Nasser Al Azzazy
Unknown gunmen attacked a number of security headquarters in Sinai early Friday morning, leaving one police officer dead and wounding others.
The assailants engaged in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on security personnel near Al-Arish Airport, killing 40-year-old Colonel Ahmed Mahmoud Aboul Enein. 22-year-old police officer Al-Sayed Ibrahim Abdel Samad sustained injuries to the skull and was taken to Al-Arish Military Hospital.
The Al-Salam district of Al-Arish was the site of several attacks before dawn on Friday morning. Eyewitnesses claim that the First Al-Arish Police Station along with other security establishments in the area came under attack, saying the gunmen moved in large vehicles and carried out the attacks in a synchronised fashion.
North Sinai security dispatched Apache helicopters following the attacks to track the assailants.
Sinai continues to experience heightened levels of instability over the past two weeks.
Al-Arish prosecution opened an investigation to examine the case of 59 year old Magdy Lamay Habib, a Copt whose body was found decapitated on Thursday morning. Prosecution ordered a report showing the results of Habib’s autopsy before a burial permit.
