A police captain and a police conscript were shot dead in Al-Arish in North Sinai on Saturday, as the self-proclaimed “Revolutionary Punishment” and “State of Sinai” militant groups continue to claim drive by attacks and ambushes on police officials.
Hours after the incident “State of Sinai” extremist militant group released a statement on social media accounts claiming the attack and saying it fired at a check point outside the Al-Arish Third police station.
On its part, the Ministry of Interior said it is intensifying security measures to arrest the perpetrators. “State of Sinai”, formerly known as Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, has been active online by releasing photos of its militants firing at and attacking armoured vehicles belonging the Egyptian military.
The photos, released in statements entitled “The pious campaign to repel apostates”, claim to show the alleged ambushes targeting army tanks and vehicles. “Soldiers of the Islamic State attack cars of the apostate army,” the statements said. Various photos depicted militants shooting machine guns at army targets, a destroyed tank, and the back of a military vehicle stained with blood, as well as militants on top of cars waving the black “Islamic State” flag.
Meanwhile in Fayoum, a police officer was injured on the city’s highway when assailants shot at him. He is currently being treated in hospital. The so-called “Revolutionary Punishment” claimed the attack on various accounts affiliated to the group. The militant group is also one of the most active groups that claim attacks on policemen and officials.
Fayoum has seen some of the worst violence, with attacks occurring on an almost weekly basis, leaving many injuries, among them police and security personnel. In May, “Revolutionary Punishment” also claimed responsibility for the killings of two police officers as part of an operation of “cleansing the country of murderers and criminals… [who] assault unarmed Egyptians in the streets and squares , tortures detainees in police stations and cellars of the National Security apparatus, and kidnaps students from the exam room to murder them”.
Accusations directed at the police of killing unarmed suspects were also repeated in early August, when police forces stormed into a farm and killed five Muslim Brotherhood members.