A police vehicle was targeted by an improvised explosive device (IED) on Monday evening in the North Sinai city of Al–Arish, a North Sinai based journalist told Daily News Egypt on condition of anonymity. The IED was planted in the Geser El-Wadi suburb in central Al-Arish, and the explosion caused no injuries or deaths, said the source. Following the explosion, police forces in cooperation with army personnel, carried out a strict sweeping operation to search and detonate any possible IEDs inside the city. IEDs and attacks by militants against police and army forces have become an almost daily occurrence. It is believed that the attackers are members of the Islamic State-affiliated group Sinai Province. These attacks are mainly targeting army and police checkpoints in different areas of North Sinai. The ideology of Sinai Province, which is the same as IS, considers all police and army members "apostates" to the Islamic religion and believes they should be killed. Sinai has become the scene of frequent clashes between militants and state security forces. An extensive counter-insurgency operation was launched to curb militancy within Sinai. These operations have imposed a state of emergency in the northern regions of the peninsula.
