Republished April 09, 2019 - 8:23 AM
Original Publication Date April 09, 2019 - 6:36 AM
EL-ARISH, Egypt - Four Egyptian policemen and three civilians, including a child, were killed on Tuesday in a suicide bombing in the restive northern Sinai Peninsula, Egypt's Interior Ministry said.
The ministry said in a statement that the bomber attacked police forces who were inspecting a market in the town of Sheikh Zuweid, wounding another 26 people.
It said two officers and a six-year-old child were among those killed.
A local affiliate of the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Egypt has battled Islamic militants for years in the Sinai Peninsula in an insurgency that has occasionally spilled over to the mainland, striking minority Christians and tourists.
The militants grew deadlier and their attacks more frequent after the military's 2013 ouster of an elected but divisive Islamist president. However, an all-out campaign by the military since early 2018 has brought high-profile attacks by the militants to a halt.
News from © The Associated Press, 2019