Car bombs target North Sinai police station injuring 2 security personnel

Two car bombs exploded on Saturday near Sheikh Zuwayed police station in North Sinai, injuring a police officer and a conscript, according to media reports.

Captain Ahmed Salah and conscript Mohamed Gharib Mohamed were taken to Arish Military Hospital for treatment.

Two small trucks approached the police station in an attempt to take out the main gate, according to privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper. A military lookout on the roof of the police station shot at the first truck and an armored tank shot at the second. Both trucks exploded meters from the building.

Al-Masry Al-Youm added that four gunmen in a car fled the site following the explosions.

Assailants in another car threatened staff at Sheikh Zuwayed Hospital, saying all ambulances headed to the explosion site would be attacked. However, five ambulances protected by military tanks arrived at the scene and transported the injured to Arish Military Hospital.

The captain was reportedly injured in his right leg, while conscript Mohamed has a fractured bone in his right leg and an injury to his abdomen, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported.

At least 29 people were killed and 46 others injured in January in a series of successive attacks targeting security facilities in the North Sinai city of Arish.

A car bomb and 10 mortars targeted Military Unit 101, followed by a series of coordinated attacks on police and military checkpoints in Arish. A checkpoint in the Mansoura area south of Rafah was also bombed. Several other military checkpoints were reportedly attacked with rocket-propelled grenades.