Clashes in Egypt’s Sinai after jihadists kill 30, Sisi flies back

SIX-MONTH-OLD INFANT AND SIX-YR-OLD BOY KILLED AS EGYPTIAN MILITARY BATTLES IS AFFILIATES AFTER DEADLY ATTACK IN SINAI

CAIRO: Egypt’s army clashed with jihadists in Sinai Friday, leaving two children dead, as President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi flew home to deal with a wave of militant attacks that killed at least 30 people.

The top brass vowed to hunt down those behind the violence.

Health officials said a sixmonth-old baby was hit in the head by a bullet during the clashes and a six-year-old was killed in a rocket blast in the peninsula.

Two more people including a 12-year-old were badly wounded.

Friday’s violence came a day after jihadists targeted security forces with rockets and a car bomb in North Sinai province in simultaneous attacks claimed by an affiliate of the Islamic State group.

The most active group, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, changed its name to Sinai Province last year when it swore allegiance to IS.

Security officials said the bodies of the 30 victims, most of them soldiers, had been flown to Cairo.

Sisi pulled out of an African Union summit in Ethiopia and flew home “to monitor the situation”, his office said.

It was the deadliest wave of attacks since October when 30 soldiers were killed and scores wounded in simultaneous assaults.

“The army and police will intensify their raids against terrorist and extremist elements in Sinai and across the country,” a military statement said.

The fresh bloodshed came despite new security measures.

Jihadists have regularly targeted security forces in the Sinai since Islamist president Mohamed Morsi was ousted by then army chief Sisi in 2013.

The militants say the attacks are in retaliation for a government crackdown on Morsi supporters in which hundreds have been killed, thousands jailed and dozens sentenced to death.