A suicide bomber killed two people in Egypt's restive North Sinai region on Thursday, a day after four headless bodies were found there.

The victims of the bombing were a civilian and a member of the security forces, security and medical sources said.

The bomber was shot before he reached a military checkpoint, his intended target, but his explosive belt detonated and killed the soldier and civilian, an Egyptian military spokesman said in a statement.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) armed group claimed responsibility for the attack via its Amaq website, saying five members of the security forces were killed or wounded.

Multiple armed groups, some linked to ISIL, are active in the Sinai Peninsula and Egypt's army launched a major operation there in February last year.

Thursday's bombing took place at a car park in the town of Sheikh Zuweid, near the border with the Gaza Strip.

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Separately, two security sources said four headless bodies were found in an empty street in the North Sinai town of Bir al-Abd on Wednesday. Their families reported that the four men, aged 23 to 51, had been kidnapped.

Fighters stopped several cars before taking five people away and forcing them to lie down on the ground, a security source and three residents said. They killed four and kidnapped the fifth.

ISIL claimed responsibility for the beheadings, saying the four were spies for the Egyptian military. Security services were hunting down the perpetrators.

Egypt's State Information Service could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Egyptian military, which launched its campaign in Sinai after an attack in November 2017 on a mosque in which hundreds of worshippers died, says hundreds of fighters have been killed. </s> CAIRO, July 18 (Reuters) - At least two people were killed by a suicide bombing in North Sinai on Thursday, a day after four headless bodies were found there, security and medical sources said.

The victims of the bombing were a civilian and a member of the security forces, the sources said. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

An Egyptian military spokesman said in a statement that security forces killed the bomber before he reached a checkpoint, which was his intended target. The spokesman confirmed that a member of the armed forces was killed.

Islamist militants, some linked to Islamic State, are active in the Sinai Peninsula, and security forces launched a major operation there in February last year.

Thursday's bombing happened at a car park in the town of Sheikh Zuweid, near the border with the Gaza Strip, a security source and a medical source said.

Separately, two security sources said four headless bodies were found in an empty street in the North Sinai town of Bir al-Abd on Wednesday. Their families had reported that the four men, aged 23 to 51, had been kidnapped, the sources said.

A security source and three residents said that militants stopped several cars before taking five people away and forcing them to lie down on the ground. They killed four and kidnapped the fifth, the security source and the residents said.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the beheadings via its Amaq agency, saying the four were spies for the Egyptian military. A security source said the security services were trying to find and identify the perpetrators.

Egypt's State Information Service could not immediately be reached for comment.

Egypt's military campaign in Sinai was launched after a jihadist attack in November 2017 on a mosque in which hundreds of worshippers died.

The military says hundreds of militants have been killed in the campaign. (Reporting by Ahmed Mohamed Hassan, Ahmed Tolba, Yusri Mohamed and Haitham Ahmed; writing by Lena Masri; editing by Larry King) </s> A suicide bombing killed at least two people in Egypt’s North Sinai region on Thursday, a day after four headless bodies were found there, security and medical sources said, Reuters reported.

The victims of the bombing were a civilian and a member of the security forces, the sources said.

An Egyptian military spokesman said in a statement that security forces killed the bomber before he reached a checkpoint, which was his intended target. The spokesman confirmed that a member of the armed forces was killed after the bomber’s explosive belt detonated.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack via its Amaq agency, saying five members of the security forces were killed or injured.

Islamist militants, some linked to Islamic State, are active in the Sinai Peninsula, and security forces launched a major operation there in February last year.

Thursday’s bombing took place at a car park in the town of Sheikh Zuweid, near the border with the Gaza Strip, a security source and a medical source said.

READ: Over 1,000 rights violations in Egypt in 2019, says NGO

Separately, two security sources said four headless bodies were found in an empty street in the North Sinai town of Bir al-Abd on Wednesday. Their families had reported that the four men, aged 23 to 51, had been kidnapped, the sources said.

A security source and three residents said that militants stopped several cars before taking five people away and forcing them to lie down on the ground. They killed four and kidnapped the fifth, the security source and the residents said.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the beheadings via the Amaq agency, saying the four were spies for the Egyptian military. A security source said the security services were trying to find and identify the perpetrators.

Egypt’s State Information Service could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Egyptian military, which launched its campaign in Sinai after a jihadist attack in November 2017 on a mosque in which hundreds of worshippers died, says hundreds of militants have been killed in the campaign. </s> IS claims suicide bombing that killed 2 in Egypt's Sinai

CAIRO (AP) — The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed two people, including a civilian, and wounded three in Egypt's restive northern Sinai Peninsula.

The militant group says in a statement on an IS-affiliate website that an IS militant named Abu Omar El-Seedy had detonated his explosive-laden vest near a military checkpoint at dawn on Thursday.

Egyptian security officials had said the bomber targeted an armored vehicle near the local market of the northern Sinai town of Sheikh Zuweid, killing a soldier and a civilian and wounding three soldiers.

Egypt has battled Islamic militants for years in the Sinai Peninsula in an insurgency that has occasionally spilled over to the mainland, striking minority Christians and also at times tourists. </s> By The Associated Press

EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) — Egyptian security officials say four policemen and two civilians have been killed in a suicide bombing in the restive northern Sinai Peninsula. The officials said on Tuesday that the suicide bomber…

EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) — Egyptian security officials say four policemen and two civilians have been killed in a suicide bombing in the restive northern Sinai Peninsula.

The officials said on Tuesday that the suicide bomber attacked a police checkpoint at a market in the town of Sheikh Zuweid.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

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

Egypt has for years been battling a long-running insurgency in North Sinai that is now led by an Islamic State affiliate. The fighting intensified in 2013 after the military overthrew an elected but divisive Islamist president.

Authorities heavily restrict access to the northern Sinai, making it difficult to verify claims related to the fighting.

Copyright © 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed. </s> The Latest on the attack in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula (all times local):

Egyptian security officials have raised the toll from a blitz attack by Islamic militants in Sinai to 23 soldiers killed and 33 wounded, making it one of the deadliest attacks in the volatile peninsula this year.

Officials say that the militants unleashed a suicide car bomb and heavy gunfire on an Egyptian military checkpoint in northeastern Sinai Peninsula on Friday morning.

The officials initially put the death toll at 10. They later told The Associated Press that more bodies were retrieved from the rubble of a demolished building at the site.

The attack took place in the village of el-Barth just south of the town of Rafah. The officials say five officers are among those killed, including a high-ranking special forces officer, Col. Ahmed el-Mansi.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they aren’t authorized to speak to the media.

Egyptian officials say at least 10 security troops have been killed when a car bomb struck a military checkpoint followed by heavy gunfire in northeastern Sinai Peninsula.

The officials say that the Friday attack started when a suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into the checkpoint in southern Rafah village of el-Barth, followed by heavy shooting by dozens of masked militants on foot. The dead included a high ranking special forces officer and at least 20 others were wounded in the attack.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to the media. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Egypt has in recent years been battling a stepped-up insurgency in northern Sinai, mainly by militants from an Islamic State group affiliate. </s> By Ashraf Sweilam and Hamza Hendawi Associated Press

EL-ARISH, Egypt – Islamic State militants ambushed a police convoy in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on Monday, killing 18 police and wounding seven others in one of the deadliest attacks this year in the restive region bordering Israel and the Gaza Strip.

Police and military officials said roadside bombs destroyed and set ablaze four armored vehicles and a fifth carrying signal-jamming equipment meant to neutralize roadside bombs that are remotely detonated. The gunmen later opened fire with machine guns and commandeered a police pickup truck.

Among those killed were two police lieutenants. The wounded included a police brigadier general, according to the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.

The Islamic State group, which is spearheading an insurgency centered in northern Sinai, claimed responsibility for the attack on its Aamaq news agency.

The Interior Ministry, which oversees the police, issued a statement confirming the incident, but its account provided no details on casualty figures or how many vehicles were destroyed.

It said police traveling in the convoy fired at a car that rushed toward them, causing it to blow up and damage several of the convoy’s vehicles. That was followed by an exchange of gunfire with “terrorist elements” hiding in the desert on both sides of the road.

“That led to the martyrdom and wounding of some of the convoy’s personnel,” it cryptically added.

“Reinforcements were swiftly sent, the site has been sealed off and combing operations are underway,” it said.

Egypt’s Cabinet issued a statement in response to the attack, reiterating the country’s resolve to stamp out terrorism and hunt down militants. Again, the statement provided no casualty figures or details of the attack.

The U.S. State Department condemned the attack on Monday. Spokesperson Heather Nauert said the U.S. would “continue to stand with Egypt as it confronts the threat from terrorism.”

Monday’s attack took place on a road on the western fringes of the coastal city of el-Arish in northern Sinai, a rugged region defined by desert, shrubs and mountains. It showed the resilience of the militants in the face of a years-long campaign to eradicate them by the military and police, which between them command far superior firepower, air support, heavy armor and larger numbers.

The attack also suggested that the militants remain capable of carefully planning elaborate and multi-tiered attacks, making full use of the weapons available to them and their knowledge of the local terrain. In a wider context, the militants have been seeking to demoralize troops using snipers, killing at least 14 policemen and soldiers in recent weeks.

They have also been increasingly using brutal methods to discourage civilians from cooperating with the security forces, kidnapping alleged collaborators and later dumping their decapitated bodies on the streets to terrorize the population.

Egypt’s security forces, meanwhile, have succeeded in confining the insurgency to northern Sinai – a remote northeastern corner of the country – and preventing the militants from seizing and holding territory there.

Monday’s attack was the deadliest against security forces since July, when IS militants attacked a remote army outpost in the border town of Rafah, killing 23 soldiers. That was the deadliest attack in two years.

In March, the military said militants killed 10 soldiers during an army raid in Sinai’s central region.

Egypt has battled militants in Sinai for years, but the insurgency became far more deadly after the 2013 military ouster of Mohammed Morsi, an elected Islamist president. It has since waged a number of high-profile attacks on the mainland, including areas near Egypt’s porous desert border with Libya. Egypt maintains that some of the militants attacking its security forces and minority Christians sneak into the country through the Libyan border carrying weapons.

In recent years there has also been a wave of attacks, mainly targeting security forces, blamed on splinter factions of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood group.

Monday’s attack came a day after authorities said they had busted a militant cell planning attacks in Cairo. Police said they killed 10 militants in two simultaneous raids on apartments in a densely populated Cairo neighborhood. They said the militants sneaked into the capital from northern Sinai, but did not say whether they were members of the IS group. </s> Egypt: At least 20 killed in airstrikes in northern Sinai

EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) — Egyptian security officials say airstrikes targeting Islamic militants are underway in the restive northern Sinai Peninsula, killing at least 20 insurgents.

Officials said that Egypt's air force on Friday hit more than 100 mountainous hideouts of militant groups in the city of El-Arish and the small town of Bir al-Abd. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

The airstrikes come on the heels of a suicide bombing attack that left two killed, including a soldier and a civilian Thursday in the northern Sinai town of Sheikh Zuweid.

A day earlier, militants beheaded four people and kidnapped a fifth in Bir al-Abd, after accusing them of cooperating with security forces. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for both attacks. </s> Dear Reader, As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analysis from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.

CAIRO - A suicide bombing killed at least two people in Egypt's North Sinai region on Thursday, a day after four headless bodies were found there, security and medical sources said.



The victims of the bombing were a civilian and a member of the security forces, the sources said.

An Egyptian military spokesman said in a statement that security forces killed the bomber before he reached a checkpoint, which was his intended target. The spokesman confirmed that a member of the armed forces was killed after the bomber's explosive belt detonated.Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack via its Amaq agency, saying five members of the security forces were killed or injured.Islamist militants, some linked to Islamic State, are active in the Sinai Peninsula, and security forces launched a major operation there in February last year.Thursday's bombing took place at a car park in the town of Sheikh Zuweid, near the border with the Gaza Strip, a security source and a medical source said.Separately, two security sources said four headless bodies were found in an empty street in the North Sinai town of Bir al-Abd on Wednesday. Their families had reported that the four men, aged 23 to 51, had been kidnapped, the sources said.A security source and three residents said that militants stopped several cars before taking five people away and forcing them to lie down on the ground. They killed four and kidnapped the fifth, the security source and the residents said.Islamic State claimed responsibility for the beheadings via the Amaq agency, saying the four were spies for the Egyptian military. A security source said the security services were trying to find and identify the perpetrators.Egypt's State Information Service could not immediately be reached for comment.The Egyptian military, which launched its campaign in Sinai after a jihadist attack in November 2017 on a mosque in which hundreds of worshippers died, says hundreds of militants have been killed in the campaign.

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A suicide bombing kills two people in northern Sinai a day after four bodies were found decapitated.