Egypt's Prime Minister Sherif Ismail ordered on Wednesday the extension of the state of emergency in designated areas of North Sinai until the end of the three-month nationwide state of emergency imposed last week. The extension of the ongoing state of emergency in North Sinai, which has been renewed every three months since 2014, will include an overnight curfew in some designated area in the governorate. The renewed state of emergency in North Sinai involves a curfew from 1am to 5am in El-Arish. and 7pm to 6am in the areas of El-Ouga, Halal Mountain, the coastal region, and Rafah. On Tuesday, the Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for an attack earlier in the day on a security checkpoint in South Sinai that killed at least one policeman and injured four others. Army forces have been deployed to aid police in protecting vital institutions as part of the nationwide state of emergency. On 11 April, the Egyptian parliament approved a nationwide three-month state of emergency declared by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi two days after two suicide bombers hit Mar Girgis Cathedral in Tanta and St Mark's Cathedral in Alexandria The bombings killed 47 people and injured dozens more in the deadliest attack against civilians in the country's recent history. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the church attacks. In October 2014, Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi issued a decree establishing a state of emergency and tight curfew hours in some parts of North Sinai as part of efforts to battle an Islamic insurgency that intensified after the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
