Several attacks on police stations in Sinai

Militants attacked a police station in Arish, North Sinai, eye witnesses reported on Tuesday.

Security sources told privately-owned Al-Masry Al-Youm that an armed group attacked a police station in Arish, as well as the Traffic Authority and the local prison. An exchange of fire between the two sides left residents in the area frightened, the paper reported.

Another attack on a police station was staged by armed militants in Sheikh Zuwayed on Tuesday, eyewitnesses in the area reported, also leading to an exchange of gunfire between the assailants and the police.

Mostafa Singer, a journalist based in North Sinai reported that residents were stuck in side streets and corridors of buildings, unable to escape the gunfire, before a safe exit was made available for them to leave the area. Singer said that more than 50 women and children were stuck at a short distance from the attacked police station for over two hours.

Attacks targeting police stations, military checkpoints and other government establishments have intensified in Sinai, particularly following the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi on July 3.

The military spokesperson has claimed that military operations in the peninsula in the past few weeks have successfully targeted — by killing or arresting — dozens of militants.

However, many in Sinai attribute the increasing militancy in the peninsula to its economic and political marginalization, which has persisted for decades.