Egypt: several police officers killed in a terrorist attack on the Suez Canal

The city of Ismaïliya is located on the Suez Canal, one of Cairo's main financial links.

Here, the city in 2015. AP - Amr Nabil

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Gunmen on Friday (December 30th) killed three police officers in an attack on a security checkpoint in the town of Ismailiya, on the Suez Canal in Egypt, security and medical sources said.

Four others were injured.

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Security sources spoke of a " 

 ", the first of its kind in a city in Egypt for almost three years, except in the Sinai Peninsula, near the Suez Canal region, where groups operate. jihadists.

Two armed men got out of two cars that had approached the roadblock installed in a residential area of ​​Ismaïliya (North-East) and began to fire automatic weapons at the police, added security sources.

Three police officers were killed and four were injured, including an officer.

The report was confirmed by medical sources.

Other police responded by opening fire, killing one of the assailants and wounding the other, who nevertheless managed to flee, according to the same sources.

Jihadist insurgency in Sinai and insurgents in the desert

In recent years, attacks against security forces and state officials have been concentrated in the Sinai Peninsula (East), where a jihadist insurgency is now on the decline.

The Egyptian army and police launched a vast “  anti-

 ” operation in February 2018 in Sinai where radical cells are raging, some of which have pledged allegiance to the jihadist group Islamic State (IS).

They are also fighting radical insurgents in the Western Desert, between the Nile Valley and the border with Libya.

More than a thousand jihadists and dozens of members of the security forces have been killed, according to official figures.

But no report from an independent source is available, and North Sinai is off-limits to journalists.

The Suez Canal, which sees around 10% of world maritime trade pass through, is one of the main sources of foreign currency for Egypt.

Elsewhere in the country, attacks have taken place in Cairo in recent years, notably in May 2019, on the site of the Giza pyramids, injuring 17 people.

In August 2019, also in Cairo, around 20 people were killed when a car loaded with explosives hit three other vehicles, causing a huge explosion.

In April 2020, a police officer and seven members of a " 

 " were killed in crossfire in Cairo.

These jihadists were preparing, according to the authorities, to attack Christians during the Easter celebrations.

Since taking power in 2013 after the dismissal of Mohamed Morsi, President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi has carried out fierce repression against his detractors, muzzling the entire opposition and civil society.

NGOs regularly denounce human rights abuses in Egypt.

(With AFP)

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• Egypt

• Terrorism

• Abdel Fattah al-Sisi