The North Sinai-based militant group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, an affiliate of the Islamic State militant group, has claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed a police colonel in North Sinai Wednesday night. The militant group said in a statement released on social media on Thursday that its members planted two explosive devices in El-Arish city targeting a military convey, killing colonel Yasser El-Hadidi and injuring three policemen. Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in 2014. Egypt's army and police forces have been battling a North Sinai-based Islamist insurgency that intensified following the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Security forces have recently conducted a number of anti-terror operations in central Sinai. Hundreds of security personnel have been killed in terror attacks by militants in recent years, while the army says it has killed hundreds of militants in security campaigns in the governorate.
