Islamic State fighters attack and kill 18 Egyptian police in Sinai

Militants attacked a security convoy in Egypt’s strife-torn Sinai Peninsula, killing at least 18 policemen in a blast and a gun battle on Monday, sources said.

The attackers detonated an improvised explosive device and managed to destroy three armoured vehicles and a signal-jamming vehicle near Arish, the capital of North Sinai province, the security and medical sources said.

The attack turned into a gunfight and the militants also opened fire on ambulance workers, injuring four, the sources said.

At least 18 policemen, two of them officers, died in the violence, and a Brigadier General lost a leg in the blast, several sources at Arish hospital said.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted by its news agency Amaq.

The Sunni Muslim militants are waging an insurgency in the rugged, thinly populated Sinai, aiming to topple the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.