fbpx

News

ISIS in Sinai claims four killed after Israeli attack

[ssba]

The Islamic State (ISIS) group claimed that four members of its Sinai branch were killed in an Israeli attack.

The ISIS al-Amaq news agency said that an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) belonging to the Israel Air Force attacked a vehicle in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula on Saturday, killing four of the Islamic terror group’s members.

The four were allegedly travelling in a vehicle in the area of Rafah near the village of Shibana as they prepared to fire a rocket towards Israel. Mohammed Id, a Palestinian from Gaza, is considered to be one of those killed in the strike.

The Egyptian Army is reported to be opening an investigation into two large explosions in the area; however an army spokesman denied that Israel was responsible.

Israel Army Radio speculated that if the attack had been carried out by Israel, it would have have been coordinated with Egypt.

The alleged attack came after heightened  tensions between Israel and ISIS’s affiliate in Sinai, known as Sinai Province. On 8 February the group claimed responsibility for firing four rockets at the Southern Israeli city of Eilat. Three rockets were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system and a fourth landed in an open area and caused no damage. The group released a statement saying the war against “the infidels” will continue and that the war against ISIS will not help the unbelievers.

On 9 February two Palestinians were killed in an explosion in Rafah. Hamas claimed this was the result of an Israeli airstrike carried out in retaliation for the Eilat attack.

Sinai Province violently opposes the government of Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and has persistently attacked Egyptian military forces in Sinai, reports suggest that as many as 5,000 Egyptian soldiers have been killed or injured by the group in the last five years.