Cairo- Five police officers were killed and others were injured Monday after the explosion of two homemade bombs that were hidden in the ground in Arish, the capital of North Sinai province, which is witnessing security disturbance, according to a security source in the Egyptian Ministry of Interior.
The wounded officers were taken to the hospital to receive treatment, and the explosion area was combed by explosives experts to make sure there were no other bomb containers.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which came as part of a series of terrorist acts that hit the country over the past two weeks as dozens of soldiers, policemen, and foreign tourists were killed and wounded in an armed attacks and ambushes targeting police vehicles and a tourist resort in the governorates of North Sinai, Giza, and Hurghada.
These terrorist attacks have taken place at a time when Egyptian authorities have imposed a state of emergency throughout the country since April.
The Egyptian army, with the help of the police, is engaged in a fierce war in the Sinai peninsula, especially the northern part, against extremist organizations that have been carrying out sporadic acts of terrorism against members of the army and police and are targeting Christians.
One of the most prominent organization is “Ansar Bait al-Maqdis,” which pledged allegiance to ISIS and changed its name to “Wilayat Sinai” in November 2014. Its latest attack has led to the death of more than 20 soldiers and the injury of 26 others in Rafah last Friday.
In this context, Armed Forces Spokesman Tamer al-Rifai said that in the past two weeks, 22 four-wheel-drive vehicles were seized and 28 Egyptian nationals were arrested in the western borders with Libya while attempting to smuggle goods without paying their customs fees.
Rifai explained in a statement on Monday that these operations come in the framework of the efforts exerted by armed forces to eliminate takfiri and criminal militants.
He noted that legal measures are currently taking place by the concerned parties against the detainees and the seized products.