At least 13 security personnel killed in Arish bombing

13 police personnel and soldiers were killed in a car bombing in the North Sinai city of Arish, the privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm reported .

The officers were killed in an ambush as they were returning to their police station in Arish. The Interior Ministry stated that a bomb detonated under their vehicle, killing two officers, one policeman and 10 soldiers, according to Al-Masry Al-Youm.

Public Prosecution announced that they are forming an investigative team to look into the attack and track down the perpetrators, Al-Masry Al-Youm added. The prosecution will consult with a forensics team after the autopsies are completed.

Initial investigations into the incident, according to state-owned Al-Ahram, have shown that after the first explosion, armed men attacked the police vehicle. Al-Ahram also stated that there were 18 victims in the attack, but the exact number of victims is unclear – Al-Masry Al-Youm reported 13 dead, and the privately owned Al-Shorouk claimed that 15 people were killed and published the names of the victims.

Security sources reported to Al-Ahram that more security personnel would be sent to North Sinai to secure roads and identify the perpetrators.

Al-Ahram blamed the attack on the Province of Sinai, a militant group that pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in November 2014 and was formerly known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdes. The Province of Sinai is one of the most active militant groups in Egypt and has claimed responsibility for a number of large-scale attacks on both civilian and security targets. Arish has often been the site of militant attacks on security forces.

The militant group had previously claimed responsibility for the fatal crash of a Russian plane in Sinai in November, which killed all 224 people on board. It also claimed responsibility for the bombing of an apartment in the residential Giza district of Haram, which left seven dead and 13 injured.

In early January, four police officers were killed and 12 were injured in a bombing targeting a police vehicle. The attack was followed by another bombing, claimed by the Province of Sinai, which killed five police officers and injured 12, after militants bombed a police vehicle and then fired on police officers.

In another car bombing in November, six people were killed and 10 were injured in an attack claimed by the Province of Sinai as well. In September, two people were killed and 18 were injured by a roadside bomb in Arish.

Saturday’s attack comes amid a heavy security campaign to crack down on militant groups in North Sinai. In November 2015, the Armed Forces declared that they had regained “tight control over all roads” in the North Sinai cities of Rafah, Sheikh Zuwayed and Arish, at the end of the first stage of a campaign dubbed Operation Martyr’s Rights.

Privately owned Youm7 reported that the operation left 535 dead and 634 arrested, and described it as the "final battle" in the fight against terrorism in North Sinai. The Armed Forces then announced a second phase of the operation to develop the peninsula, claiming that they had succeeded in ridding the area of most terrorist activity.

In February, General Sayed al-Habbal, the security director in North Sinai, stated that security forces had gained control over North Sinai and that the region would be “free of terrorism” soon.