Four civilians injured by army projectile in North Sinai

Four people were injured Friday after a mortar round landed on a family home during an armed stand-off between Egyptian forces and militants in North Sinai.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab

02 September, 2016

The number of violent stand-offs between militans and Egyptian military has increased recently [Getty]

Four young people were injured in a mortar attack on Friday in North Sinai during an armed stand-off between the Egyptian military and armed militants.

The mortar landed on a family home and injured four people, Al-Arabiya News reported. All four were transported to the Arish hospital for treatment.

Local news network Sinai 24 News identifed the victims as Fethi Mezaid Suleiman (25), Mostafa Ismail Saleh, (19), Bakr Ismail Suleiman (17) and Noureddin Ismail Suleiman (15).

A local correspondent in Sinai said "Houses are regularly bombed at random in Rafah and Sheikh Zuwaid (two areas in North Sinai) and the military deliberately target civilians."

The New Arab's Egypt correspondent was unable to contact anybody in the region as the communication networks were down.

It is considered usual practice for the Egyptian military to cut the local electricity and telecommunication networks following an incident of this type.

The Egyptian military did not respond to calls for comment.

Three security officers and two civilians were killed on Thursday in multiple attacks in the restive peninsula, as militant stepped up attacks.

Jihadists in Sinai have launched an insurgency against government forces since Egypt's military overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

The majority of the near daily attacks that have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers have been claimed by "The Sinai Province", the Egyptian branch of IS.