IS Claims Deadly Attack On Egypt Police In Sinai

CAIRO, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Jan, 2017 ) : The Islamic State group said Tuesday that it was behind the car bomb attack on a police checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula that killed eight people a day earlier.

The group's Egyptian branch, Sinai Province, said in a statement that "soldiers of the caliphate" had staged the assault on the checkpoint near the city of El-Arish.

According to the interior ministry, seven policemen and a civilian passerby were killed in the attack, while police shot dead five assailants.

Militants have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since the military overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 unleashed a bloody crackdown on his supporters. Most of the attacks have taken place in the Sinai Peninsula, which borders Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip.