Militants kill 18 police in Sinai

EL-ARISH, Egypt — Islamic State militants ambushed a police convoy in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on Monday, killing 18 officers and wounding seven others in one of the deadliest attacks this year in the restive region bordering Israel and the Gaza Strip.

Police and military officials said roadside bombs destroyed and set ablaze four armored vehicles and a fifth carrying signal-jamming equipment meant to neutralize roadside bombs. Militants later opened fire with machine guns and commandeered a police pickup truck.

The Islamic State group, which is spearheading an insurgency centered in northern Sinai, claimed responsibility for the attack on its Aamaq news agency.

The Interior Ministry, which oversees the police, issued a statement confirming the incident, but its account provided no details on casualty figures or how many vehicles were destroyed.

Monday’s attack took place on a road on the western fringes of the coastal city of el-Arish in northern Sinai. It showed the resilience of the militants in the face of a years-long campaign to eradicate them by the military and police. The attack also suggested that the militants remain capable of carefully planning elaborate attacks.

Egypt’s security forces, meanwhile, have succeeded in confining the insurgency to northern Sinai and preventing the militants from seizing and holding territory there.