Sources: 3 police personnel killed, 12 injured in armed attack near Ismailia

Three armed assailants attacked a security detail stationed near the Al-Saliheen Mosque in Ismailia Governorate on Friday, killing three police personnel and injuring 12 people, including one civilian, according to a security source and two medical sources who spoke to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity.

One of the assailants was killed by police, the same sources said.

The Interior Ministry is yet to release a statement on the casualties. A Friday night statement issued by the Ismailia Governorate referred to a “terrorist attack on the Al-Saliheen Mosque,” noting that an unspecified number of people were injured in the incident and were visited at the Ismailia Medical Complex by the governor, Major General Sharif Fahmy Beshara. At the time of publishing, no group had claimed responsibility for the attack. 

Domestic news reports from the intelligence-affiliated eXtra News and Al-Qahera News outlets, meanwhile, noted that a group of assailants mounted an attack on security personnel near the mosque and that one of them was killed, without detailing any other casualties.

At 5.30 pm on Friday, said the security source, three armed aggressors pulled up near the security detail on board a microbus and descended on foot to clash with police personnel stationed near the mosque. Police killed one of the assailants on the scene, while the remaining two took control of a police vehicle and fled the area. The sound of gunshots was audible in video clips shared by social media users, with other clips showing ambulances pulling up to the Ismailia Medical Complex. 

Police pursued the car, according to the security source, clashing with the militants in the villages of Manayef and Qassaseen, with no further casualties or arrests ensuing. A local resident speaking to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity described hearing the sound of clashes in Qassaseen soon after being informed of the attack at Al-Saliheen Mosque and said they observed heavy police deployment in the area.

Local residents told Mada Masr that entrance points to Ismailia were shut by authorities following the incident, and a strong police presence was visible on the streets, resulting in heavy traffic in the governorate’s principal city. 

Police ultimately located the stolen vehicle in an agricultural area, said the security sources, while local residents said that the city had returned to normal by around 10.30 pm on Friday night.

A security detail, including one police car and around four personnel, has been stationed at Al-Saliheen Mosque regularly since 2013, when the mosque was a focal point during the uptick in clashes between militant opposition groups and state authorities that followed the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood from power, said a resident of the area where the attack took place. Additional personnel would normally be stationed at the site on Fridays, said the source, when the weekly prayer services take place.

While official channels affiliated with the Islamic State had not claimed responsibility for the attack at the time of publication, the group’s Egypt affiliate, the Province of Sinai, has perpetrated a number of attacks in recent months in the vicinity of Ismailia, the furthest west that the group’s activity has ever reached.

At least 11 Armed Forces personnel were killed in May, three civilians were killed in August, and another two Armed Forces personnel were killed in November in attacks thought to be carried out by the Province of Sinai, all of which took place in the east of Ismailia Governorate.