5 soldiers killed in militant attack in central Sinai

Five soldiers were killed by militants in Sinai late Sunday, according to military spokesperson Colonel Tamer al-Rifai.

Rifai declined to specify the exact location of the attack to Mada Masr, but news outlets reported that the soldiers were killed near the town of Hasaka in central Sinai, where militants halted a military vehicle and shot them. No injuries were reported.

Since the increase in militant activity in 2013, the majority of militant attacks in Egypt have taken place in North Sinai, with only sporadic incidents occurring in other areas of the peninsula.

Deputy Health Minister for Sinai Tarek Khater told Mada Masr the bodies were not transported by Health Ministry ambulances, saying the ministry was not informed about details of the attack.

The attack has yet to be claimed by any militant group.

On Saturday, 8 civilians were killed after a mortar shell fell on a residential area in the North Sinai city of Rafah, near the border with Gaza.

Seven police personnel and a civilian were killed in another attack on security forces in Sinai on January 7, when gunmen attacked a checkpoint in Arish.

Armed attacks on security forces have increased in North Sinai since the ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in 2013. In response, Egypt's Armed Forces have launched ongoing military operations in the area aiming to eradicate militant groups, the most prominent of which is the Islamic State-affiliated Province of Sinai.

The ongoing insurgency has led to heightened tension between civilians living in Sinai and security forces controlling the area.

An unprecedented protest against security tactics in the region unfolded earlier this month, when families in Arish issued a joint statement threatening civil disobedience after the Interior Ministry announced that 10 young men from the area were killed in an armed exchange, whom the families said were innocent.