AN IMPROVISED Explosive Device (IED) targeting a police armoured vehicle in Arish was detonated on Saturday killing two police conscripts and injuring nine, according to a statement issued by the Interior Ministry. The statement said the armoured vehicle was passing through the Al-Safa area of the North Sinai town when the road-side bomb exploded. Security forces have launched a sweeping search of the area and set up additional checkpoints in an attempt to apprehend the perpetrators. On Saturday the Interior Ministry issued a statement saying police had killed 14 militants in a shootout as they raided a militant training camp in Ismailia governorate. Many of the dead are thought to have been involved in recent attacks on security forces in Sinai. “As part of the ministry's tracking of militants involved in recent attacks in North Sinai we received intelligence that they were training new recruits from across the country at a camp in Ismailia,” the statement read. On Tuesday security forces arrested 26 fugitives in North Sinai alleged to be involved in the attacks. Since the ouster of Mohamed Morsi in 2013 Egypt has been fighting an Islamist insurgency led by the Islamic State's branch in North Sinai, formerly known as Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis. Hundreds of soldiers and police — mainly in North Sinai — have been killed. Though Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis is at the forefront of militant groups launching attacks against security targets, smaller militant groups — most notably Hasm (Decisiveness) and Lewaa Al-Thawra (Revolution Brigade) — emerged in 2016 and have claimed responsibility for terrorist attacks in Cairo and other governorates.
