CAR BOMBS IN SINAI PENINSULA INJURE SIX

Cairo, 25 Rabi’ul Akhir 1436/15 Februari 2015 (MINA) – Egypt’s restive Sinai Peninsula has seen fresh bomb attacks that left at least six people injured.

The car bomb attacks took place on Saturday in the town of Sheikh Zuweid in North Sinai Governorate as two vehicles approached a police station, Press Tv quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

An unnamed security official said the assailants driving the vehicles were seeking “to blow up the Sheikh Zuweid police station.”

He added that the cars exploded, killing the drivers, after security forces opened fire on them.

However, according to the reports, two other vehicles that were transporting gunmen and were following the assailants fled the scene after the explosions.

A police officer, a policeman and four civilians sustained injuries in the attack.

A state of emergency has been declared in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula since a militant attack on an Egyptian army checkpoint killed more than 30 soldiers in October 2014.

The Egyptian military considers the Sinai Peninsula a safe haven for gunmen, who use the region as a base for their “acts of terror.”

Militants launch regular attacks against security forces in the volatile area, where the army has stationed troops and armored vehicles to contain the militancy. On January 29, 2014, simultaneous assaults in North Sinai left 30 soldiers dead.

No one has so far claimed responsibility for the Saturday attacks, but the government in Cairo often blames such assaults on the militant group calling itself Ansar Bait al-Maqdis. (T/P002/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)