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Deadly suicide attack on Egyptian police base in Sinai Deadly bomb attacks hit Egypt's Sinai peninsula
(about 1 hour later)
A suicide bomber has targeted a police barracks in Egypt's restive Sinai peninsula, killing one civilian and injuring 24 policemen, officials say. Bomb attacks targeting the police and army in Egypt's restive Sinai peninsula have killed two people and wounded more than 30, officials say.
The attack, on Tuesday morning, was near the provincial capital, El-Arish. A suicide bomber targeted a police compound in the city of El-Arish, leaving a civilian driver dead.
A jihadist group affiliated to Islamic State, Sinai Province, has said it was behind the attack, according to Egypt's al-Yawm al-Sabi newspaper. A roadside bomb later exploded beside an armoured vehicle, killing a soldier.
A long-running Islamist insurgency in the Sinai peninsula has increased since President Morsi's overthrow in 2013. Sinai Province, a jihadist group affiliated to Islamic State, claimed it was behind the first attack, the al-Yawm al-Sabaa newspaper reported.
Previous incidents have been blamed on the same group. Militants based in the Sinai have killed hundreds of soldiers and police since the military overthrew Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013.
Formerly known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, in November 2014 it pledged allegiance to Islamic State and changed its name to Sinai Province. 'Shattered glass'
The official Twitter account for the group has not made any reference to the attack, however. In the first attack, the suicide bomber drove a water tanker filled with explosives into the gate at the rear entrance to the police compound in El-Arish shortly after 06:00 (04:00 GMT), security officials said.
"The bomber drove a water tanker filled with explosives into the rear gate of the base," a security official told AFP news agency. As the vehicle approached, police fired on it, detonating the explosives inside. The blast killed the bomber and a civilian worker at a nearby electricity company who had been driving by the compound.
"As the vehicle approached, police fired on it, detonating the explosives inside." Interior ministry spokesman Hani Abdul Latif said the death toll could have been much higher had the bomber been able to enter the barracks.
Security sources who spoke to Reuters news agency said police action had prevented the bomber from entering the barracks, and that the civilian had been passing by chance when the attacker hit. "The security forces dealt with the vehicle near the checkpoint of the base, which saved a lot of lives," he told the AFP news agency. "The wounded policemen suffered only minor injuries from shattered glass."
On Monday, a roadside bomb killed three Egyptian soldiers in Sinai. Shortly after the attack, an army officer was killed and three soldiers were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded beside their armoured vehicle a few kilometres away.
At least 30 people, mostly soldiers, were killed and dozens wounded in a series of attacks in the north of the province on 30 January. Meanwhile, two suspected militants died when a bomb they were transporting on a motorbike exploded in Fayoum, a town south-west of Cairo, security officials told the AP news agency. One of the men was wanted for a previous attack on a police station in Fayoum, they added.
The latest attack came ahead of a major conference in Sharm el-Sheikh aimed at attracting foreign investment to the region. Crackdown
Sinai Province was known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis until it pledged allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in November. It has claimed responsibility for most of the major attacks in Sinai, including a series of strikes that left at least 30 people dead on 29 January.
However, the official Twitter account for the group has not made any reference to Tuesday's attacks.
The government has launched a major military operation in the peninsula, declared a state of emergency, and imposed a night-time curfew in an attempt to halt the attacks.
Houses close to the border with Gaza have also been demolished to prevent what the military says is the smuggling of weapons and infiltration of militants from the Palestinian territory.
On Sunday, the military said that troops and helicopter gunships had killed 70 suspected militants in northern Sinai in the first week of March. Another 23 people were arrested.
The latest violence comes ahead of a major conference at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, in southern Sinai, aimed at attracting foreign investment to the region.