CAIRO
An Egyptian security source has dismissed reports that have emerged on social media websites that three soldiers were kidnapped during Friday's attack on a military checkpoint in the restive Sinai Peninsula that left at least 26 troops dead and several others wounded.
"Reports that say three troops were kidnapped in the wake of the attack are devoid of truth," the source, who asked not to be named, told Anadolu Agency.
Earlier Friday, Khaled al-Khatib, head of the ministry's emergency department, had told AA that the death toll from the car bomb – which went off at an army checkpoint in the North Sinai town of Sheikh Zuweid – had risen to 26.
At least 28 other soldiers were wounded in the attack, he added.
Informed sources said the army had sealed off the peninsula, shutting all roads leading to the northeastern region and sealing the Rafah border crossing linking Egypt to the Gaza Strip.
Communication services were also cut peninsula-wide, as the army launched search operations to track down the attack's perpetrators, the sources added.
Meanwhile, presidential spokesman Alaa Youssef told AA that President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi had called a meeting of Egypt's National Defense Council to "follow up on the security situation in North Sinai" in the wake of the bombing.
A security source told AA that the bomb had gone off at a military checkpoint in Sheikh Zuweid's Karam al-Quadis district.
The blast, caused by a booby-trapped car, had shaken the entire town, he added.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but several media reports blamed the Ansar Beit al-Maqdis militant group, which in recent months has claimed several attacks in Sinai.
For the past year, the Egyptian army has waged a major offensive against militant groups said to be based in the Sinai Peninsula, which shares borders with both Israel and the blockaded Gaza Strip.
The restive peninsula has seen a spate of attacks by unidentified militants on security personnel since last year's ouster of Mohamed Morsi – Egypt's' first freely elected president – by the army.
By Islam Mosaad
englishnews@aa.com.tr
www.aa.com.tr/en
