SHEIKH ZUWEID, Egypt
A Daesh-linked militant group has claimed responsibility for an attack on a security patrol in the Sinai Peninsula that left at least one soldier dead.
The Welayet Sinai militant group said on Twitter on Thursday that its fighters had detonated a roadside bomb near a passing army patrol in the North Sinai town of Sheikh Zuweid, completely destroying an army tank.
A security source, requesting anonymity, told The Anadolu Agency that militants had attacked an Egyptian security patrol in Sheikh Zuweid earlier Thursday, killing one soldier and injuring another.
Tarek Khater, the Health Ministry's representative in North Sinai, said the Al-Arish military hospital on Thursday had received a slain army corporal and an injured soldier.
Earlier this week, Welayet Sinai – which pledged loyalty to the Daesh militant group late last year – claimed responsibility for three simultaneous attacks on North Sinai security checkpoints that left at least 13 dead and dozens injured.
For almost two years, the Egyptian authorities have been cracking down on militants in the restive Sinai Peninsula, which shares borders with both Israel and the blockaded Gaza Strip.
The campaign comes amid a spike in deadly attacks on security personnel since the 2013 ouster of elected President Mohamed Morsi by the army.
Welayet Sinai, formerly known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, changed its name after swearing allegiance to Daesh, a militant organization that last year captured vast territories in both Iraq and Syria.
