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Islamic State Group Claims Attack on Police in Egypt's Sinai

by Associated Press

   CAIRO --

   The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for killing four
   Egyptian policemen in restive northern Sinai peninsula.

   The group said in a Thursday statement carried by its news agency AMAQ
   and circulated on social media that its militants carried out the
   attack on Wednesday in the town of el-Arish.
   The Associated Press couldn't independently verify the authenticity of
   the statement.
   State-run newspaper Al-Ahram said Wednesday that authorities are
   hunting the militants who opened fire on the policemen as they were
   riding in a private car.
   Egypt in recent years has been battling a stepped-up insurgency in
   northern Sinai, mainly by militants from an Islamic State group
   affiliate. The campaign accelerated after the military ousted elected
   Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013.