8 Egyptian policemen killed in latest attack in Sinai

At least eight policemen were in an attack at a checkpoint in the northern Sinai city of Al-Arish today, security and medical sources have confirmed.

The attackers stole a street cleaning truck in which they planted a car bomb, three security sources told Reuters. After the bomb exploded, attackers fired guns and rocket-propelled grenades at the checkpoint.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack in which 13 people were also wounded including four civilians. Police have since found the body of one of the attackers.

What has been described as an Islamist insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula has gained momentum since a military coup ousted the first democratically elected President, Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, in 2013.

In November last year, Daesh claimed responsibility for an attack on a security checkpoint that killed 15 soldiers. Daesh urges its followers to join its branches in Sinai, Libya, Yemen and West Africa in its weekly online magazine Al-Nabaa if they are unable to reach their main bases in Iraq and Syria.