Al-Arish (Northern Sinai, Egypt) - Militants blew up a school in the city of Rafah in Egypt's northern Sinai Peninsula, according to a local security source. "Terrorists remotely detonated a bomb planted in a school in Rafah's Al-Rasm neighborhood late Thursday," source said. The bomb, he said, had not resulted in any casualties. According to the same source, "terrorists" blew up the school to prevent security forces from using its roof to monitor their movements. Last November, hundreds of families returned to Rafah after leaving more than two years ago amid intensive military operations against Sinai-based terrorist groups. In a related development, security forces killed three militants near the city of Al-Arish (located roughly 47 kilometers southwest of Rafah), according to another local security source. The source said the militants had attempted to flee the area on a motorbike before they were neutralized by security forces. The northern Sinai Peninsula has remained the epicentre of a deadly insurgency since 2013. Since then, the "Welayet Sinai" ("Province of Sinai") group -- said to have links to the Daesh terrorist organization -- has claimed responsibility for a spate of attacks on Egyptian security forces deployed in the region.
