CAIRO (AP) — The Latest on the attack in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula (all times local):
3:45 p.m.
Egyptian security officials have raised the toll from a blitz attack by Islamic militants in Sinai to 23 soldiers killed and 33 wounded, making it one of the deadliest attacks in the volatile peninsula this year.
Officials say that the militants unleashed a suicide car bomb and heavy gunfire on an Egyptian military checkpoint in northeastern Sinai Peninsula on Friday morning.
The officials initially put the death toll at 10. They later told The Associated Press that more bodies were retrieved from the rubble of a demolished building at the site.
The attack took place in the village of el-Barth just south of the town of Rafah. The officials say five officers are among those killed, including a high-ranking special forces officer, Col. Ahmed el-Mansi.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they aren’t authorized to speak to the media.
__Ashraf Sweilam in El-Arish, Egypt.
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10:30 a.m.
Egyptian officials say at least 10 security troops have been killed when a car bomb struck a military checkpoint followed by heavy gunfire in northeastern Sinai Peninsula.
The officials say that the Friday attack started when a suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into the checkpoint in southern Rafah village of el-Barth, followed by heavy shooting by dozens of masked militants on foot. The dead included a high ranking special forces officer and at least 20 others were wounded in the attack.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to the media. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Egypt has in recent years been battling a stepped-up insurgency in northern Sinai, mainly by militants from an Islamic State group affiliate.
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