Extremists kill two in bank attack in Egypt's Sinai: security sources

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Reuters
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A member of the special police forces stands guard in Cairo, Egypt, April 2017. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Files

CAIRO: Extremists killed two people — including a policeman — at a bank in the town of El-Arish in Egypt’s North Sinai on Thursday, security sources said, while a separate explosion in the region killed an army officer and five soldiers.

The militants in El-Arish fired a rocket and shot at police who were guarding the bank, the sources said. The police fired back but the militants fled the scene.

Egypt’s interior ministry could not immediately be reached for comment on the incident.

Later, the army said an officer and five soldiers had been killed when their vehicle was hit by the blast from a bomb extremists planted in North Sinai.

The troops were carrying out a raid on a militant position when they were attacked.

No exact location was given for the explosion. A separate raid killed three extremists, it said.

Security forces have been battling a militant insurgency for several years in North Sinai, led by Daesh's Sinai branch. Several hundred soldiers and policeman have been killed.

Attacks have now expanded to civilian targets including Christians.

An attack on a mosque in the village of Al Rawdah last month killed more than 300 people — making it Egypt’s deadliest such attack.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered the armed forces to end the insurgency within three months after the mosque attack.

Daesh is widely believed to have carried out that attack but has claimed it.