At least 16 soldiers have been killed in two separate incidents over the last week in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula according to local reports. On 7 May a local affiliate of Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack in Qantara on the Suez Canal that killed 11 Egyptian soldiers and wounded at least five others.
On 11 May five more soldiers were killed at the Rafah checkpoint with the Gaza Strip, according to a number of local media outlets, although no group has yet taken responsibility for this most recent attack. Attacks in the Sinai had been commonplace but subsided in recent years following President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s 2018 campaign to bring order to the region (MEES, 31 August 2018). (CONTINUED - 130 WORDS)