One Egyptian policeman was killed in a terrorist attack in al-Arish, North Sinai, according to tribal and medical eyewitnesses.
Sinai Tribal Union, a gathering of tribesmen who cooperate with the Egyptian authorities during security operations, announced that a security officer at Bir al-Abed Police Department, northeast of Sinai, survived an assassination attempt.
The incident happened when a group of masked gunmen opened fire at the officer's car, killing his driver immediately.
The Union issued a statement announcing the death of officer Ahmed Abdusalam, who was killed by extremists during the attack.
Mervat Saleh, a Bir Al-Abed resident who witnessed the incident, reported that she heard gunshots in front of her building, and after things calmed down, residents found out that someone attacked the sheriff’s car.
She added that the perpetrators were armed, masked, and targeted the car with heavy fire while it was parked in front of a pharmacy. However, the sheriff was inside the pharmacy and they shot his driver instead.
Saleh said that an ambulance rushed to the scene followed by policemen who immediately began combing the region looking for the attackers.
The witness also reported that the gunmen tried to drive the car away and kidnap the passenger, but the sheriff had the keys, so they hijacked the vehicle of a passerby and fled the scene.
The car was later found on al-Arish-Qantara highway, on the city’s eastern entrance.
Under-Secretary of Health Ministry Tarek Shawki told Asharq al-Awsat that Bir al-Abed Hospital received the body of Ahmed Abdusalam, 21, who sustained several gunshots.
Egyptian police pursue in North Sinai terrorist elements of “Wilayat Sinai” organization, which pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2014.
In 2018, the army, accompanied by the police, launched an operation against the militants in North and Central Sinai to cleanse the region from extremists affiliated with ISIS.
Terrorist attacks against security forces have dropped significantly in Sinai over the last period due to the army’s preemptive strikes on terrorist locations, according to observers.
