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| Extremists have in recent months also begun carrying out a campaign of violence against Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority. An armed policeman secures the Coptic church that was bombed in Tanta, Egypt, on April 10, 2017. |
CAIRO—Islamic State militants armed with guns and a vehicle bomb attacked Egyptian police forces in the Sinai Peninsula, killing at least 18 civilians and policemen, the interior ministry said, the deadliest assault in months in the restive region.
The roadside bomb blew up after intercepting a group of police vehicles west of the city of Al Arish, an interior ministry statement said, and an ensuing gunbattle erupted between security forces and the militants. The hourslong clash left three militants dead, according to state newspaper Al-Ahram. Ambulances had difficulty reaching the injured as it wore on, the paper said.
Five people were wounded, an interior ministry spokesperson said. He didn’t say how many of the dead were police.
Islamic State claimed Monday’s assault through its official Amaq news agency, saying its fighters had ambushed the outskirts of Al Arish, a hotbed of activity for Egypt’s growing insurgency.
It marks the bloodiest day in Sinai—home of a militancy led by Islamic State’s powerful Egyptian affiliate—since July 7, when 23 soldiers were killed and wounded in attacks orchestrated by the group.
The resurgent violence came the same day as Egypt’s army chief of staff, Lt. General Mahmoud Hegazy, met in the capital, Cairo, with Lt. General Joseph Votel, commander of the U.S. Central Command.
It also underscores Islamic State’s fallback on guerrilla-style warfare, including suicide bombings, as it suffers crippling battlefield losses in its Syrian and Iraqi strongholds. All but defeated in Iraq, it now faces an assault from U.S.-backed Syrian forces on its de facto capital, Raqqa.
Egypt has for several years battled its increasingly ferocious Islamic State-led homegrown insurgency, which regularly targets military and government installations in Sinai, killing thousands of police and security forces.
The extremists have in recent months also begun carrying out a campaign of violence against Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority, targeting civilians and houses of worship across the country.
The violence has sharpened criticism among Egyptians of President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, the former army chief who swept to power in a 2013 military coup promising to serve as a regional bulwark against terror.
Despite the endorsement of new U.S. President Donald Trump, who has lauded Mr. Sisi’s counterterrorism efforts, the failure to eradicate the Sinai militancy is piling pressure on the Egyptian leader ahead of a presidential race scheduled to be held next year.
Islamic State accuses Copts of supporting the coup led by Mr. Sisi against Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood official who was Egypt’s first democratically elected president. Since coming under attack in January, thousands of Christians have fled their homes in Sinai.
Since coming to power, Mr. Sisi has staged a sweeping crackdown on his political opponents, including many members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
