An attack Friday by "armed terrorists" on a security checkpoint in northern Sinai has left 12 military personnel and 15 terrorists dead, according to Egypt's military. The assailants attacked the checkpoint using vehicles. Egyptian military officials are sweeping the area for remains of the group. </s> Egypt's military said there was a clash at a checkpoint Saturday between suspected jihadists and the military on the Sinai Peninsula. 

 

 A military spokesman told AFP in a statement that seven militants were killed in the attack in the restive North Sinai, while 15 soldiers were either killed or wounded.

Army spokesman Tamer el-Refai said in the statement that "an officer and 14 non-commissioned soldiers were killed or wounded." He did give an exact number for the death toll. 

 

 El-Refai said security forces would go after "the terrorist elements to eliminate them." </s> Funeral prayers were held in Cairo and Sharqiya on Sunday to mourn the deaths of an officer and soldiers killed in a deadly attack on Egypt's military in the Sinai Peninsula.

An attack Saturday on an Egyptian army checkpoint in the restive Sinai left 15 soldiers dead or wounded and seven of the suspected Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, ISIS) fighters were killed, the military said.

The breakdown of military casualties was not immediately clear. Two security sources told Reuters news agency some of the injuries were serious.

ISIL later claimed responsibility for the attack on its Amaq website.

It said it killed at least 15 Egyptian troops, revising an earlier figure of 20 dead south of the provincial capital of Arish after clashes with "various kinds of weapons".

The group did not provide evidence for its claim.

Since 2013, ISIL fighters have repeatedly targeted security checkpoints and civilians, particularly members of Egypt's minority Coptic Christian community.

Egypt's army launched a major operation against the fighters a year ago dubbed Sinai 2018, after an attack in North Sinai killed more than 300 people at a mosque.

The army says more than 550 fighters have been killed in the offensive, which has also targeted other armed groups in Egypt - costing the lives of more than 30 soldiers.

 

But no independent statistics are available as North Sinai is largely cut off from the media. </s> Egypt's army said Saturday seven suspected jihadists were "eliminated" and 15 soldiers killed or wounded in an attack in the Sinai Peninsula, where the military is fighting the Islamic State group.

Security forces responded to the attack on a checkpoint in restive North Sinai in an "exchange of fire", army spokesman Tamer el-Refai said in a statement, without giving a precise number for the soldiers killed.

Egypt launched a nationwide operation against militants in February 2018, mainly focused on jihadists in North Sinai province. </s> At least eight members of security forces killed in an attack on a police checkpoint in El-Arish.

A truck bomb attack on a checkpoint in the city of El-Arish in Egypt's northern Sinai has killed at least seven policemen and one civilian, security officials and medical sources said.

Police officials said a suicide bomber rammed the truck packed with explosives into the El-Matafe checkpoint and gunmen then opened fire on the security post on Monday.

Egypt's interior ministry said in a statement that security forces were able to "fight off" the attack, killing five assailants and wounding three others.

Six policemen and six civilians were also wounded in the attack.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the truck bombing but an armed movement in the rugged and thinly populated Sinai Peninsula has gained pace since the military toppled President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, in mid-2013 following mass protests against his rule.

Since then, hundreds of police officers and soldiers have been killed by armed groups.

In November, a car bomb attack on a checkpoint in Sinai killed eight soldiers.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group's Egyptian branch in the Sinai Peninsula has also carried out several such attacks over the past two years. </s> Story highlights Assailants attacked the checkpoint using four-wheel drive vehicles

Egyptian military officials are sweeping the area for remains of the militant group

(CNN) An attack by "armed terrorists" on a security checkpoint in the northern half of the Sinai Peninsula on Friday has left a dozen military personnel dead, according to Egypt's military. Fifteen terrorists also died in the attack.

The assailants attacked the checkpoint using four-wheel drive vehicles, the military said in a statement. Egyptian military officials are sweeping the area for remains of the militant group.

This is the latest attack in a battle for control over the Sinai Peninsula between Islamist militants and the Egyptian military. The militants have been waging an insurgency against the military since the army toppled President Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013. </s> At least eight members of security forces killed in an attack on a police checkpoint in El-Arish.

A truck bomb attack on a checkpoint in the city of El-Arish in Egypt's northern Sinai has killed at least eight policemen, security officials and medical sources said.

Police officials said a suicide bomber rammed the truck packed with explosives into the checkpoint and gunmen then opened fire on the security post on Monday.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the truck bombing.

But an armed movement in the rugged and thinly populated Sinai Peninsula has gained pace since the military toppled President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, in mid-2013 following mass protests against his rule.

Since then, hundreds of police officers and soldiers have been killed by armed groups.

In November, a car bomb attack on a checkpoint in Sinai killed eight soldiers.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group's Egyptian branch in the Sinai Peninsula has also carried out several such attacks over the past two years. </s> At least 26 Egyptian soldiers including a colonel were killed in a suicide bomb attack on an army checkpoint in northern Sinai, according to security sources.Another 40 fighters were killed in a subsequent gun battle with soldiers at the checkpoint, an army spokesperson said on Friday.The attack started when a suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into the checkpoint at a military compound in the southern Rafah village of el-Barth, followed by heavy gunfire from dozens of masked fighters on foot, officials said.The dead included a high ranking special forces officer, Colonel Ahmed el-Mansi, and at least 26 soldiers were wounded in the attack.Sirens of ambulances were heard from a distance as they rushed to the site of the attack.The officials spoke to AP news agency on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorised to speak to the media.No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.Speaking to Al Jazeera from Bologna, Spain, Timothy Kaldas, a non-resident fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, said there was a high likelihood that the attack would be claimed by Wilayat Sinai, a group affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.The group frequently targets military and police personnel, he said, adding that Friday's attack was "unfortunately a very predictable type of attack and something we've seen regularly".Over the past months, ISIL has focused its attacks on Egypt's Christian minority and carried out at least four deadly attacks that killed dozens, prompting army chief-turned-President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi to declare a state of emergency in the country.The Sinai branch of ISIL appears to be the most resilient outside Syria and Iraq, where the so-called caliphate is witnessing its demise.The group's offshoot in Libya has been uprooted in months-long battles in the central city of Sirte while its branch in Yemen has failed to seize territories or compete with its al-Qaeda rivals. </s> Seven Egyptian police officers were killed in clashes in northern Egypt, the country’s interior ministry said on Wednesday, According to Thenational.ae.

Four militants were also killed in the fighting near the city of Arish, in the north of the Sinai Peninsula, on Tuesday night.

ISIS carried out simultaneous attacks, according to a statement by the group’s Amaq news agency, and security sources told Reuters that the militants used at least 10 vehicles.

The UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation condemned the attack, which was claimed by ISIS.

“The UAE expresses its vehement condemnation of these criminal acts and its principled rejection of all acts of violence and terrorism,” the statement said.

”Such cowardly, terrorist acts will not weaken the resolve of Egyptian people to continue their fight against terrorism, which has no country, religion or ethics,” the ministry said.

“This terrorist act is completely incompatible with all religious and humanitarian values and principles,” it added.

Egyptian security forces have been battling Islamist militants in the Sinai Peninsula for years and launched a counter-insurgency campaign in the area in February 2018.

Earlier this month militants attacked a checkpoint in North Sinai, an assault that left eight security personnel dead according to the interior ministry.
A suspected ISIL attack on a security checkpoint in North Sinai Governorate, Egypt, leaves at least 12 Egyptian military personnel and 15 terrorists dead.