EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) — Militants attacked three police checkpoints in the restive northern Sinai Peninsula late Tuesday, killing at least six policemen and wounding eight other officers, security officials said.

The officials said at least four militants were killed, including a suicide bomber who set off his explosives at one of the checkpoints attacked in the coastal city of al-Arish late Tuesday. The officials agreed to provide the details only if not quoted by name because they were not authorized to brief the media.

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, although they bore the hallmarks of the Islamic State group.

Egypt's government has been battling Islamist militants centered in northern Sinai. The insurgency intensified after the military ousted an elected but divisive Islamist president amid mass protests in 2013. </s> CAIRO (Reuters) - Seven Egyptian police officers and four militants were killed in a clash in the north of the Sinai Peninsula, the interior ministry said on Wednesday.

The clash took place late on Tuesday when militants attacked forces stationed southwest of the city of Arish, the ministry said in a statement.

Islamic State claimed the attack, saying it had carried out simultaneous raids on military positions in Arish, according to a statement carried on the group’s Amaq news agency.

Security sources said the militants had used more than 10 four-wheel vehicles in coordinated attacks at four sites.

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. </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> A suicide bomber driving a garbage truck packed with explosives rammed his vehicle into an Egyptian security checkpoint outside a police building in northern Sinai on Monday, killing at least 10 people and wounding 22, officials said.

According to security and medical officials, the attack in the city of el-Arish in the Sinai Peninsula was followed by smaller explosions as militants wearing black masks fired rocket-propelled grenades at the troops around the checkpoint.

Three floors of the police building were blown out, the officials said, adding that so far, bodies of 10 people — all but one of them policemen — have been retrieved from the rubble but that they fear the death toll could rise further. The wounded were taken to hospital.

At the checkpoint, two officers survived unharmed, the officials said. There were unconfirmed reports that a number of security personnel were seized and abducted by the gunmen.

The garbage truck had been stolen days earlier from the municipality of el-Arish, the officials said, adding that the militants had built in metal plates to enforce the truck. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

Later Monday, Egypt's Interior Ministry released footage showing an attacker driving what appears to be a white garbage truck. The video shows the attacker collapsing after coming under fire.

In a statement on the ministry's Facebook page, the security authorities claim they managed to foil the attack before the car bomb exploded at the checkpoint and that security forces killed five of the attackers and wounded three others. It also said seven policemen were killed, along with civilian, and that six policemen and six civilians were wounded.

The ministry also said a second group of militants tried to carry out an attack on another checkpoint, also in el-Arish, but came under heavy gunfire and were forced to flee. It said that attack killed one policeman. It wasn't immediately possible to reconcile the two accounts.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for Monday's attack, which bore all the hallmarks of Egypt's Daesh affiliate.

The militant group has carried out scores of attacks against security forces in the volatile northern Sinai and elsewhere in the country. The Egyptian army has struggled over the past few years to contain the insurgency. </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> EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) - Suspected militants on Monday ambushed a police convoy in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, killing five policemen and wounding three others, including a police brigadier-general, according to security and military officials.

The police and military officials said the attack began with the detonation of roadside bombs that destroyed and set ablaze three armored vehicles and a fourth one carrying signal jamming equipment. The gunmen later opened fire with machine guns and commandeered a police pickup truck.

The attack took place about 30 kilometers (20 miles) west of el-Arish in northern Sinai, the epicenter of a long-running insurgency by militants now led by the extremist Islamic State group.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. </s> Seven Egyptian police officers and four militants were killed in a clash in the north of the Sinai Peninsula, the interior ministry said on Wednesday.

The clash took place late on Tuesday when militants attacked forces stationed southwest of the city of Arish, the ministry said in a statement.

Islamic State claimed the attack, saying it had carried out simultaneous raids on military positions in Arish, according to a statement carried on the group's Amaq news agency. </s> CAIRO - Egypt has raised the death toll from the previous night’s attack in a restive northern part of Sinai, saying seven policemen were killed, including an officer.

A local affiliate of the Islamic State group on Wednesday claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Interior Ministry says an officer was among the seven killed.

Previously, security officials said the militants attacked three police checkpoints in the coastal city of al-Arish late on Tuesday.

They also said eight policemen were wounded and that four militants were killed, including a suicide bomber after his explosives were set off. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters. </s> Six police officers were killed and ten injured in an attack on a checkpoint near the town of el-Arish in northern Sinai in Egypt, local media reported on Monday.

CAIRO (Sputnik) — The attackers detonated a car bomb at the checkpoint, according to the Egyptian newspaper El Fagr.

Egypt has been fighting a rise in terrorist attacks in northern Sinai since the army, led by President Abdel Fattah Sisi, overthrew then Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Police and security forces have been the target of deadly attacks by Islamists in the area.
Suspected ISIL militants attack checkpoints and an assembly center in the Egyptian city of Arish. Seven police officers are killed, along with a civilian. Four militants also died, including one that blew himself up.