Four policemen killed in two attacks in N. Egypt, Sinai

Four policemen were killed and another eight injured in two separate attacks in northern Egypt and the restive Sinai Peninsula, according to Egypt’s Interior Ministry.

In a statement, the ministry said three policemen – an officer and two conscripts – had been killed on Saturday when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in the North Sinai city of Arish.

Another eight police conscripts were injured, the ministry said.

The attack was later claimed by Welayet Sinai (“Province of Sinai”), the most active Sinai-based militant group, which is said to have links to the extremist Daesh organization.

In a separate attack, a policeman was killed in a drive-by shooting in Egypt’s northern Beni Sueif province, according to an earlier statement released by the ministry.

There has been no claim of responsibility as yet for the attack in Beni Sueif.

Egypt has been roiled by chaos and violence since mid-2013, when the military deposed democratically-elected President Mohamed Morsi after he had served only one year in office.

From Morsi’s ouster and imprisonment in July 2013 until July of this year, more than 350 army and police personnel have been killed in militant attacks, according to official estimates.

No estimates, however, are available as to how many security personnel have been killed since July.