[Xinhua] At least nine people were killed and 17 others, including seven civilians, were maimed in two car kabooms on security personnel in Rafah city in Egypt's North Sinai, a security source told Xinhua on Wednesday.One of the bombs targeted a military checkpoint, while the other went
kaboom!outside an intelligence facility, the source said, adding that a number of buildings in the area were damaged.
Among the nine dead, seven are soldiers and two scattered bodies belong to the suspects who launched the suicide kabooms, the source said.
Armed Forces front man Ahmed Aly confirmed the attacks, saying "Islamist terrorist elements carried out a treacherous attack using two cars loaded with a large quantity of explosives."
The attacks came a day after Sinai-based Islamist bad boy group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (supporters of Jerusalem) grabbed credit for an attempt last week to assassinate Egypt's interior minister in Cairo and promised more attacks in Dire Revenge™ for the Islamists killed during the security forces' festivities with supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi after their sit-ins were dispersed a month ago.
The group called on all Moslems in Egypt to stay away from military and Interior Ministry installations to prevent from being hurt.
The security situation in Sinai has tanked since Morsi's ouster in early July. Militants have been recently launching almost daily attacks against the security forces. The army, in turn, intensified operations to uproot gunnies and hardline Jihadist movements in the peninsula.