A police officer and five conscripts were injured during the early hours of Tuesday morning due to an improvised explosive device (IED) attack executed against their armoured vehicle in central Sinai, a North Sinai based journalist who wished to remain anonymous told Daily News Egypt.
The armoured vehicle was part of a carding operation in the Al Qessima region in central Sinai. The explosion occurred from an IED planted on the road on which the armoured vehicle was driving on, he clarified.
All injured policemen were directly transferred to a hospital in Al-Arish to receive immediate care.
Daily News Egypt made several vain attempts to reach the Ministry of Interior to comment on the attack. The ministry did not issue any statement regarding the attack on its official Facebook page.
On Sunday night, police officer Abdo Ibrahim was shot by unidentified assailants in front of his house in Al-Arish, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Interior.
Clashes between state security forces and Islamic State-affiliated “Sinai Province” militants have recently intensified as security forces continue Operation Martyr’s Right.
Militants are mainly based in the North Sinai cities of Sheikh Zuwaid, Rafah, and Al-Arish, where residents have long complained about severe neglect from the government in providing vital services, infrastructure, education, and healthcare.
