About 20 officers from the police and central security force were either killed or wounded Sunday in an attack on their checkpoints in the Sinai peninsula, a security source told dpa.
Militants attacked the checkpoints shortly after sunset while the guards were breaking their Ramadan fast. The armed men took over armoured vehicles and drove off towards the Karm Abu Salem border crossing, and fired some shots into Israel.
Medical sources at the Al-Arish hospital in Sinai said they received only four wounded security personnel, but were waiting for more.
Egypt has been trying to secure the Sinai peninsula over the past year, after turmoil and soaring crime rates nationwide following the ouster of president Hosny Mubarak in a popular revolt in February 2011.