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Sinai blast kills 11 Egypt policemen: Security Official

Kashmir Times. Dated: 9/3/2014 3:24:20 PM

CAIRO, Sep 2 (Agencies): Eleven Egyptian policemen were killed when a roadside bomb blast struck their armoured vehicle in the restive Sinai Peninsula today, security officials said.
Islamist militants have claimed a string of attacks that have killed scores of policemen and soldiers, mostly in north Sinai, since the army overthrew president Mohamed Morsi in July last year.
An officer and 10 conscripts were killed in the attack that took place on a road leading to the town of Rafah bordering the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Four conscripts were wounded.
Egypt's military has sought to quell the militants in a massive operation that has killed scores of extremists and netted some of their leaders.
The main militant group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, has acknowledged the loss of some of its leaders, but has continued to attack both the security forces and Bedouin suspected of collaborating with them.
The group, whose name means Partisans of Jerusalem, has also said it was behind deadly bombings of police buildings in the capital and the Nile Delta.
It says it wants to implement Islamic law and that it attacks security forces to avenge the killings of pro-Morsi protesters by the military and police following the Islamist president's ouster.
At least 1,400 people have died in street violence since Morsi's overthrow, including about 700 of his supporters killed in a single day on August 14, 2013.
Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which has also fired rockets at neighbouring Israel, released a video last month claiming responsibility for beheading men it accused of working with the Jewish state.