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Egyptian soldiers killed in Sinai attack

Arab World Materials 20 November 2013 13:29 (UTC +04:00)
Egyptian soldiers killed in Sinai attack
Egyptian soldiers killed in Sinai attack

At least ten Egyptian soldiers have been killled in a car-bomb attack in the volatile border region of northern Sinai, security officials said Al Jazeera reported .

They said the car bomb on Wednesday struck a bus carrying the off-duty soldiers as it travelled on the road between the border town of Rafah and the coastal city of el-Arish. Thirty five soldiers were wounded in the attack.

The soldiers belong to the 2nd Field Army, which is doing most of the fighting against Islamist fighters waging an insurgency against security forces in Sinai. The bus was on its way to Cairo, the officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to release the information publicly.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Wednesday's attack, but suicide car bombings are a signature method by armed groups linked to or inspired by al-Qaida.

The northern Sinai region, which borders Gaza and Israel, has been restless for years, but attacks have grown more frequent and deadlier since the July ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

The car-bomb on Wednesday was the latest in a series of similar attacks targeting army and police facilities and checkpoints. In August, gunmen pulled 25 police conscripts off minibuses in the Sinai and shot them dead on the side of the main road linking Rafah to el-Arish. Northern Sinai's violence occasionally has spilled over into cities in the southern part of the peninsula as well as mainland Egypt, targeting policemen, soldiers and politicians.

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