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ISIS news agency, Amaq, announced on September 27 that fighters of the terrorist group had carried out a hit and run attack on a key checkpoint of the Egyptian military in the Sinai Peninsula.
“Islamic State fighters attacked this afternoon a checkpoint of the Egyptian military in the area of Tuffaha south of the town of Bir al-Abed and clashed with soldiers with various types of weapons, killing all of them,” a security source in ISIS told Amaq.
The terrorist group claimed that fifteen Egyptian service members were killed in the attack. However, Egyptian sources said that only four were killed. Other soldiers were injured and at least one is still reportedly missing.
This was one of the biggest terrorist attacks targeting the Egyptian military this year. The Egyptian ministry of Defense had not commented on the incident, so far.
Last year, the Egyptian military and security forces carried out a large-scale security operation in Sinai. Despite initial success, ISIS cells managed to resurface in the region once again.
Without their constant backing by Israel and the US, ISIS cells would have never been able to resurface there after the military operation last year.