By Omar Thabet
CAIRO (AA) – A senior police officer was killed late Wednesday in Egypt’s restive Sinai Peninsula, according to a statement issued by the Interior Ministry.
“A security vehicle struck a roadside bomb while passing through the city of Al-Arish in North Sinai,” the statement read.
The attack, it added, had led to the death of Police Colonel Yassir al-Hadidi and the injury of another police officer and a conscript.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Sinai has remained at the epicenter of a deadly militant insurgency since mid-2013, when Mohamed Morsi — Egypt’s first freely-elected president — was ousted in a military coup.
Since then, hundreds of Egyptian security personnel have been killed in militant attacks across the volatile peninsula.
Egyptian security forces, for their part, continue to wage a fierce campaign — involving elements of both the police and army — against what they describe as Sinai-based “terrorist groups”.
Egypt’s army-backed authorities say they are battling the Welayat Sinai (“Province of Sinai”) group, which is alleged to have links with the Daesh terrorist organization.
