Car bomb, militants kill 23 in Sinai

EL-ARISH, Egypt — Islamic militants in Egypt’s Sinai unleashed a suicide car bomb and dozens of masked and heavily armed gunmen who descended in multiple SUVs on a remote security outpost in the desert peninsula on Friday, killing at least 23 soldiers and wounding 33, officials said.

An Islamic State affiliate later took responsibility for the deadliest attack in two years in Sinai.

It also suggested that the Sinai-based militants are among the region’s most resilient — after Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, where the so-called caliphate is now witnessing its demise — and underscored the struggles the Egyptian forces face in trying to rein in the insurgency.

Egypt has for years battled militants in Sinai, where the jihadists have exploited the vast arid and underdeveloped region and its disgruntled Bedouin population as an ideal incubator for Islamic insurgency, but more recently, the Islamic State affiliate had emerged at the forefront of the insurgency.

Friday’s assault began in the early morning, when a suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into a checkpoint at a military compound in the village of el-Barth, southwest of the border town of Rafah.

That was followed by dozens of masked militants who descended on the site in 24 Land Cruiser sport utility vehicles and opened fire on the soldiers with machine guns, according to security officials.

The shooting lasted nearly half an hour, the officials added, speaking on condition of anonymity under regulations. The troops at the compound were estimated to have numbered about 60.

When the attack subsided, the militants apparently looted the checkpoint, snatching weapons and ammunition before fleeing the scene, the officials said. A number of militants were killed in the shootout indicating the soldiers had fought back, and some of their vehicles were left at the scene, abandoned.

In attacks elsewhere, a police officer was killed by assailants riding a motorcycle in a drive-by shooting in Cairo, the Interior Ministry said. Two civilians were also killed when a mortar shell hit their vehicle in el-Arish on Friday night, officials said.