ISIS-affiliated group kills 32 in Egypt:Daily Star

An ISIS-affiliated terrorist group killed at least 32 people in coordinated rocket and bomb attacks on the Egyptian military and police in the Sinai Peninsula on Thursday night. Ansar Beit al-Maqdis launched the assault on three towns, detonating a car bomb outside a military base as mortars were simultaneously fired at the stronghold, destroying buildings and burying soldiers under the debris. At
least 60 people were wounded, according to medical officials, who warned that the death toll was expected to rise. The capital of North Sinai, el-Arish, was targeted along with the nearby towns of Sheik Zuwayid and Rafah, which sees regular conflict because of its position on the border with Gaza and the crossing there, reports Independent. After the attacks, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi cut short a visit to Ethiopia for an African Union summit yesterday. Rockets were also fired at a hotel, a police club and more than a dozen checkpoints. Security sources in Sinai said three military planes left al-Arish for Cairo yesterday morning carrying 32 body bags, some of them containing corpses in pieces from the bomb attacks. The Egyptian Army immediately issued a statement accusing former President Mohamed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood of orchestrating the attack. Advertisement But hours before, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis had posted pictures of masked militants dressed all in black, carrying rocket-propelled grenades and flying the black flag of ISIS, from its Twitter account. The militant group, which emerged after the 2011 Egyptian revolution, later claimed responsibility, saying on Twitter that two suicide bombers and three car bombs struck an army base and adjacent security building in el-Arish -- the deadliest of all attacks. Meanwhile, Egypt's army clashed with jihadists in Sinai yesterday, leaving two children dead. Two more people including a 12-year-old were badly wounded by gunfire. The most active group, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, changed its name to Sinai Province last year when it swore allegiance to Islamic State, the hardline Sunni militant group that has seized swathes of Iraq and Syria, drawing US-led air strikes, reports Reuters. A daily news broadcast released via Islamic State Twitter feeds said Thursday's attacks had been led by "men of the Islamic State". Soldiers and police are often targeted at outposts outside Sinai's main towns, but the attack on military facilities in al-Arish could signal an escalation in their capabilities, said Zack Gold of the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.