Daesh claims deadly attack on Egyptian soldiers in Sinai

ISMAILIA — The Daesh terror group claimed responsibility on Friday for an attack on an Egyptian military checkpoint in northern Sinai Peninsula that killed at least 12 soldiers.

An insurgency in the rugged, thinly populated Sinai has gained pace since the military toppled president Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's oldest Islamist movement, in mid-2013 following mass protests against his rule.

The militant group staging the insurgency pledged allegiance to Daesh in 2014 and adopted the name Sinai Province. It is blamed for killing hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police since then.

"An armed group of terrorist elements attacked a checkpoint in North Sinai on Thursday night using four-wheel-drives rigged with explosives," the military said in a statement that put the death toll at eight soldiers and three attackers.

Medical sources said four more bodies were found on Friday, bringing the toll to 12 out of the checkpoint's 31 soldiers. Twelve soldiers were wounded and one was missing.

Daesh said it had killed 15 soldiers, destroyed two armoured vehicles and taken weapons from the checkpoint before blowing it up.