Egypt's cabinet decided on Wednesday to limit curfew hours in Al-Arish, the capital of the restive North Sinai, to four hours from 1am to 5am, MENA state news agency reported. The curfew on Al-Arish, Sheikh Zuweid and other parts of North Sinai was first imposed on 25 October 2014 for a three month period, a day after 31 army personnel were killed in a car bomb attack by Islamist militants. The decrease in curfew hours applies only to Al-Arish. Since October 2014, the Egyptian government extended the curfew in Al-Arish and neighouring areas for three more months twice. Locals have long expressed discomfort with the length of curfew hours complaining of the difficulties of living under an 11-hour shut-down for months at a time. Egypt's army has been fighting a decade-long militant Islamist insurgency that spiked following the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi in the summer of 2013. Hundreds of police and soldiers have been killed in Islamist militant attacks against security personnel in the peninsula Sinai-based militant group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis has claimed most attacks. source:Ahram online
