CAIRO: The Islamic State group said on Saturday it carried out a deadly attack on an Egyptian police checkpoint in the Suez Canal City of Ismailia the day before.
“A cell of Caliphate soldiers managed to attack an Egyptian police roadblock (…) with a machine gun,” the jihadist group’s Amaq news agency said.
Three Egyptian policemen were killed in the attack, the first of its kind in nearly three years in mainland Egypt, which has largely been spared the deadly insurgency in the neighboring Sinai Peninsula.
In recent years, attacks on Egyptian security forces have been concentrated in the Sinai, where IS-affiliated jihadists operate.
Eleven soldiers were killed on May 7 in an attack in West Sinai.
A few days later, five other soldiers and seven jihadists died when the army came under attack on the peninsula.
Ismailia is one of the main cities overlooking the Suez Canal in Egypt, a vital waterway between Asia and Europe that accounts for around 10% of global maritime trade.
“A cell of Caliphate soldiers managed to attack an Egyptian police roadblock (…) with a machine gun,” the jihadist group’s Amaq news agency said.
Three Egyptian policemen were killed in the attack, the first of its kind in nearly three years in mainland Egypt, which has largely been spared the deadly insurgency in the neighboring Sinai Peninsula.
In recent years, attacks on Egyptian security forces have been concentrated in the Sinai, where IS-affiliated jihadists operate.
Eleven soldiers were killed on May 7 in an attack in West Sinai.
A few days later, five other soldiers and seven jihadists died when the army came under attack on the peninsula.
Ismailia is one of the main cities overlooking the Suez Canal in Egypt, a vital waterway between Asia and Europe that accounts for around 10% of global maritime trade.
