Armed Forces holds funeral for lieutenant-colonel killed in North Sinai bombing

Lieutenant-Colonel Ramy Hassanein was buried during a military funeral on Sunday after he and the driver of the armored vehicle he was traveling in at the time were killed by a roadside bomb in North Sinai, according to state television.

Anonymous military and police sources told Reuters that the attack occurred as the vehicle was traveling just outside Sheikh Zuwayed and specifically targeted Hassanein.

Armed Forces spokesperson Brigadier General Mohamed Samir issued a press release on Saturday night stating that four soldiers were also killed in fighting that occurred in North Sinai.

Hassanien’s death comes after members of the Islamic State-affiliate Sinai Province launched an assault on a security checkpoint in Bir al-Abd that left 12 soldiers dead and 6 injured. Fifteen militants were killed in the ensuing firefight.

Another senior Armed Forces officer Brigadier General Adel Ragaie was assassinated in front of his house in Obour City, with the newly emerged group Lewaa al-Thawra (Revolution Brigade) claiming responsibility.

North Sinai, where many militant groups are based, has seen an uptick in attacks targeting Egyptian security forces.

In the November 2015 report “Egypt’s rising security threat,” the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP) wrote that terrorist activities have increased in number and geographical scope, while remaining concentrated in North Sinai.

“Violence occurs on a nearly daily basis, and the population of North Sinai has been increasingly implicated in an entrenched battle between security forces and militants,” the report asserted.

According to a TIMEP security brief released in August, there were 228 attacks in the second quarter of 2016, the majority of which were carried out in North Sinai.