30 Egyptian soldiers killed in wave of attacks in Sinai
Islamic State (IS) militants on Wednesday carried out a wave of simultaneous attacks in Egypt's north Sinai killing at least 30 Egyptian soldiers, security and military officials said.
More than 70 attackers targeted five different military checkpoints south of the town of Sheik Zuweid, wounding at least 40 other soldiers in one of the biggest coordinated assaults ever carried out in the province.
IS claimed responsibility for the attacks, while security sources said that at least 22 of the fighters were killed and three of their vehicles were destroyed.
Egypt's military spokesman Mohammed Samir said that fighting was still underway, and security sources commented that the militants had planted bombs along a road between the town and an army camp to prevent the movement of army supplies or reinforcements.
The attacks came just two days after the country's top prosecutor Hisham Barakat was killed in a bomb car in Cairo, and just a day after President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi promised to bring in tougher legal measures to ensure death sentences could be enforced more swiftly for those convicted of acts of terrorism.
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