[Ynet] As situation in Sinai deteriorates, Islamists attack military checkpoints. Islamist group issues statement saying 'current events ravaging the country' affecting SinaiArmed men launched a series of attacks on Sunday on security checkpoints in the North Sinai towns of Sheikh Zuweid and El Arish close to the Egyptian border with Israel and the Gazoo Strip, and one soldier was killed.
Gunmen in pickup trucks exchanged gunfire with soldiers and police in Sheikh Zuweid in the early hours of the morning, but there were no casualties, security sources said.
In two separate attacks by armed assailants on Sunday evening in El Arish, one soldier was killed and a police officer maimed, security sources added.
Hardline Islamists have launched sporadic attacks in North Sinai since the ouster of longtime President Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
in 2011 created a security vacuum in the region.
On Sunday, the Salafi Jihadi group, one of the biggest Sinai-based Islamist bully boy groups, issued a statement on a jihadist website saying that "current events ravaging the country" were affecting Sinai.
It also threatened attacks on the "repressive practices" of the police and military forces on people in Sinai.
The group has issued statements threatening attacks on Israel previously, but this was the first known direct threat they have issued against Egyptian security forces.