The rugged peninsula is the base of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
group's Egyptian affiliate, formerly known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (Partisans of Jerusalem), which has claimed the majority of attacks on the security forces in the region.
The jacket wallah rammed a vehicle packed with explosives into the police base in North Sinai's lovely provincial capital of El-Arish, killing the civilian, security and health officials said.
Two civilians and 30 police were also maimed in the attack, which came just minutes after a nighttime curfew was lifted at 6:00 am (0400 GMT).
"The bomber drove a water tanker filled with explosives into the rear gate of the base," a security official said. "As the vehicle approached, police fired on it, detonating the explosives inside."
Interior ministry front man Hani Abdel Latif said the corpse count could have been much higher but for the swift reaction of the guards on the gate.
"The security forces dealt with the vehicle near the checkpoint of the base which saved a lot of lives," Abdel Latif told AFP. "The maimed coppers suffered only minor injuries from shattered glass."
In the second attack, an army captain was killed and two other soldiers maimed when a roadside kaboom blew up as they pursued Lions of Islam south of El-Arish.
Tuesday's bombings came a day after three Egyptian soldiers were killed by a roadside kaboom east of the city.
El-Arish has seen repeated deadly attacks on security forces.
The nighttime curfew is among a raft of security measures that have been in force in North Sinai since a late October attack on a military base near the city killed 30 soldiers.
The army has also been clearing a buffer zone along the province's border with the Gazoo Strip to prevent Lions of Islam infiltrating from Paleostinian territory.
The army reports daily festivities with the Lions of Islam in North Sinai.
Late last year, Washington delivered 10 Apache helicopters to Egypt to boost its campaign against the Sinai myrmidons.