• 01:37
  • Wednesday ,05 August 2015
العربية

Five civilians killed amid intense North Sinai clashes - sources

By-aswatmasriya

Copts and Poliltical Islam

00:08

Wednesday ,05 August 2015

Five civilians killed amid intense North Sinai clashes - sources

Five civilians from one family were killed on Tuesday when their house in North Sinai was shelled, in tandem with intense clashes between security forces and militants, sources said.Five civilians from one family were killed on Tuesday when their house in North Sinai was shelled, in tandem with intense clashes between security forces and militants, sources said.

The shelling, whose source remains unidentified, left two people injured, security sources said. 
 
Meanwhile sources told Aswat Masriya that there are ongoing clashes between security forces and militants said to belong to Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, a North Sinai-based militant group.
 
The number of militants killed by air strikes rose to a dozen, after eight had been reported killed earlier on Tuesday. 
 
As Egypt faces an ongoing insurgency, especially in North Sinai, Ansar is coming out as one of the most active militant groups in the country.
 
The group, which changed its name to Sinai Province after pledging allegiance to Islamic State fighters, claimed responsibility for at least four attacks, including an attack on a naval vessel in July alone. 
 
Although the majority of casualties from militant attacks in Egypt are security personnel, civilians have also been affected, many in similar rocket attacks on houses, by unidentified sources.