Six policemen, one officer and five conscripts, were killed Tuesday by a roadside bomb in Rafah in Northern Sinai, according to a Ministry of Interior statement. The statement said that the during a morning patrol by the armed forces and police, a roadside bomb exploded near one of the vehicles. The ministry added that two conscripts were injured and are receiving treatment. Minister of Interior spokesman Mohamed Ibrahim said Sunday that a security campaign by the police and armed forces killed seven alleged members of militant group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis. Last Friday, a police sergeant and a passerby were killed by unknown assailants in Minya only hours after an explosion outside a police club in Tanta, which injured several police personnel. On 2 September, 11 security personnel were killed after their security convoy hit a landmine on a road in North Sinai. Sinai-based militant group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack. President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi condemned the attack and vowed to continue to confront militancy in the volatile peninsula. Egyptian security forces are engaged in an ongoing operation to combat the rise in militancy in the Sinai Peninsula, which includes the destruction of smuggling tunnels.
