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Egyptian army officer killed in bomb in northern Sinai

March 17, 2016 at 2:12 pm

An Egyptian army officer was killed and four soldiers were wounded on Wednesday in a bomb attack on a military vehicle south of the town Rafah, eyewitnesses said.

Eyewitnesses told the Anadolu Agency that an army officer was killed, and four others were seriously injured after a military vehicle exploded.

“The injured people were taken to hospital for treatment, while security forces cordoned the area off.”

Egyptian authorities did not announce the incident until 15:50 GMT yesterday and nobody has claimed responsibility for the operation.

A number of terrorist organisations are active in northern Sinai, most notably Wilayat Sinai which pledged allegiance to Daesh in November last year.

Since September 2013, the Egyptian authorities have launched an extended military campaign to track what it called “terrorists and takfirists” in a number of provinces, especially the Sinai, accusing them of being behind attacks that target security personnel and their headquarters in the Sinai Peninsula.