Egypt: Police targeted by a roadside bombing

The police officers were headed for a holiday, when a remotely detonated bomb targeted their bus near the state capital, El-Arish, on Sunday, police sources said.

None of the 18 people injured in the attack sustained life-threatening wounds, according to sources from the military hospital in the city. Health Ministry official Tarek Khater confirmed the officers were in stable condition.

Although nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, the bombing bears the hallmarks of the "Sinai Province" terror group, which aims to topple the government in Cairo. Last November, the group pledged alliance to the "Islamic State."

"Sinai Province" has increasingly used roadside bombs to target Egypt's security forces in the North Sinai region.

No end to state of emergency

Only hours before the latest attack, Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab announced the extension of emergency rule in parts of North Sinai because of the "dangerous security situation."

Authorities first introduced the measure last October, after the group, then called Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, killed 33 security personnel in a single attack. It was extended for three months in January and in April.

Attacks targeting Egyptian police and army in the border province originally started in 2013, when the current president, Abdel Fatah el-Sissi, ousted the Islamist Mohammed Morsi.

Sissi has called the insurgency an existential threat to Egypt.

The attacks by "Sinai Province" have claimed lives of hundreds of Egyptian police and soldiers. The military says it has killed more than 1,000 extremists in the Sinai.

dj/mkg (AFP, Reuters, AP)