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| An armed policeman secures a Coptic church that was bombed in Tanta, Egypt, in April. The country’s Christian minority has come under fire as Islamic State tries to sow sectarian division. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany |
Islamic State carried out an attack on Egyptian security forces in Sinai a week ago and captured a Christian criminal research expert, the militant group said
The man was involved in the governmentโs campaign against militants, the group said in its weekly newspaper al-Naba, published on Thursday. It gave no further details.
The attack took place on Jan. 18, west of al-Arish, the capital of the North Sinai province, the group said. One Egyptian officer was killed and two soldiers injured, it said, adding several Egyptian soldiers had been killed or wounded in the past week.
Two security sources in northern Sinai confirmed the incident, saying three security personnel were killed. The Christian man was riding a bus when he was captured, they said.
On Tuesday, the military said Egyptian security forces had killed 59 militants in the Sinai peninsula recently and had lost seven of their own men.
The figures covered the โlast periodโ, the military said without specifying dates or locations of operations. It did not give the identity of suspects or their affiliation.
Egyptโs military says several hundred militants have been killed since it launched a major campaign in February last year to defeat militants linked to Islamic State in Sinai.
