Militants kill 5 at military checkpoints in Egypt's Sinai

An Egyptian military vehicle is seen on the highway in northern Sinai, Egypt.

Cairo - Egyptian security officials said militants launched the attacks on two checkpoints using rocket-propelled grenades.

Published: Mon 20 Jul 2015, 1:32 AM

Last updated: Mon 20 Jul 2015, 9:38 AM

Militants in Egypt's restive Sinai Peninsula attacked two military checkpoints, killing at least five soldiers on Saturday in the latest violence there targeting security forces, officials and state media said.
Egyptian military spokesman Brig. Gen. Mohammed Samir said in a statement that an attack on a single checkpoint killed 3 soldiers and wounded 4 others. It was not immediately clear why the numbers differed.
Egypt's state-run Mena news agency reported that an attack near the town of Sheikh Zuweid sparked clashes with the militants.
Egyptian security officials said militants launched the attacks on two checkpoints using rocket-propelled grenades.
Both of the checkpoints were the sites of a major assault claimed by the Sinai affiliate of the Daesh group on July 1. The military has said that multi-checkpoint assault killed at least 17 soldiers. Officials from several branches of Egypt's security forces previously said that the attack killed dozens more.
Last year, the main insurgent organisation operating in Sinai pledged its allegiance to the Daesh group, which holds a third of Iraq and Syria.
An Egyptian navy vessel was targeted on Thursday by militants affiliated with the group, who claimed they destroyed it with a rocket while it was anchored off the Sinai's Mediterranean coast. Samir said at the time that the vessel caught fire in an exchange of fire with "terrorists" on the shore and that there were no fatalities among its crew members.