A former low-ranking police officer was killed Fruday night in a shooting by unknown militants in Al-Arish in North Sinai.
The 64-year-old officer, named Bakr Younes, was reportdly walking in the 23 July Street when he was shot ddead. He was rushed into the Al-Arish hospital. The officer received a military funeral in his hometown of Gharbeya.
Active militant groups in the region often use improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to execute attacks on army and police checkpoints across cities in North Sinai. The attacks by militants against police and army forces have become an almost daily occurrence. It is believed that the attackers are members of the Islamic State-affiliated group “Sinai Province”. These attacks mainly target army and police checkpoints in different areas of North Sinai.
“Sinai Province” considers all police and army members apostates to Islam and believes they should be killed.
In 2016, army forces killed hundreds of militants in the area, while dozens of military and police personnel lost their lives in the process.
In 2014, the Egyptian armed forces launched a counter-insurgency campaign targeting militants in North Sinai. The violence in the area still represents a chronic headache to the current regime.
Since 2013, following the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, “Sinai Province” has launched dozens of deadly attacks against army stationing points.
A state of emergency was first declared over North Sinai by interim president Adly Mansour, who came into power following Morsi. It was last extended in January 2016.
