The North Sinai's Sheikh Zuweid police station was subjected to a violent armed attack Wednesday, with media reports that Islamic State-linked Wilayat Sinai militants placed the police station under siege, security sources said. Unidentified gunmen launched four rockets at the station using RPG missiles and attacked security forces with heavy machine guns for hours as clashes continue between police forces and the gunmen in the town, raging onto surrounding streets, eyewitnesses added. At least 60 Egyptian soldiers have been killed and scores of others injured in a series of attacks by the IS militants against military checkpoints in the country's violence-plagued Sinai Peninsula, according to a Wilayat Sinai's statement circulated on the internet. The statement read that the militants carried out more than 15 armed attacks on military sites and ambushes across the province, in addition to three suicidal operations, killing tens of troopers and injuring several more, Sky News Arabia reported. The suicidal operations included the police club in Al-Arish, and military checkpoints in Abu Refaei and Sedrah districts on the southern outskirts of Sheikh Zuweid. On the other hand, Egypt's armed forces spokesperson Brigadier General, Mohamed Samir said that at least seventeen militants have been killed so far and scores of others injured as Egyptian Apache combat helicopters struck terrorist hideouts in the province. He added that at least 20 Egyptian policemen and soldiers have been killed and 30 wounded in ongoing clashes with IS-affiliated militants in North Sinai, indicating that clashes with militants are ongoing. This is the second official statement issued by the Egyptian armed forces about the on-going clashes in Sinai. Militants from Wilayat Sinai terror group, previously known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks in Sinai Peninsula. Last November, the group pledged allegiance to the IS terrorist group, which is now seizing wide regions in Iraq and Syria.
