At least 11 Egyptian soldiers were killed and five others were injured Saturday as extremists attacked a water pumping station east of the Suez Canal.
One police officer was among the dead. The attack was one of the deadliest against Egyptian security forces in years.
The troops are pursuing the fighters in an isolated area of the northern Sinai Peninsula, a military statement said.
Authorities did not say exactly where the attack took place, but two residents of North Sinai told the Associated Press that it was in the town of Kantara in the province of Ismailia, which stretches east of the Suez Canal.
The extremists ambushed soldiers guarding the pumping station before fleeing to the North Sinai desert, residents said on condition of anonymity.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, Arab News reported. Egypt has been battling ISIS-led Sinai riots since 2013, with dozens of attacks in an area with few outside observers. The attacks are aimed primarily at Christians, the newspaper writes.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has mourned the deaths of troops, vowing in a Facebook post to continue fighting extremists and “eradicate terrorism.”
With postal wires
Add Comment