Israeli drone strike kills five people in Sinai

At least five people have been killed in an attack carried out by an Israeli drone in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, Egyptian security officials say.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said on Friday that the victims were militants and that Israeli attack was carried out in cooperation with Egyptian army in the restive peninsula.

Last month, Tel Aviv said it had installed rocket launchers near the Sinai Peninsula to counter possible attacks from militants fighting the Egyptian government in the Peninsula.

The Israeli military also deployed the Iron Dome missile system in several areas on Egypt’s border.

The Sinai Peninsula has been witnessing a surge in deadly violence since the ouster of former president, Mohamed Morsi, by the army in early June.

On August 7, unknown gunmen shot and killed an Egyptian politician identified as Abdel Hamid Selmi in Sinai’s northern town of el-Arish.

On August 5, an Egyptian soldier was killed and two others injured in two separate attacks in the restive peninsula.

Meanwhile, the state news agency, MENA, said in a report that on August 4 unknown militants carried out bomb attacks against two Islamic shrines near the North Sinai town of Bir el-Abd and the area of el-Maghara farther south.

In another incident on the same day, one police officer was injured in a militant attack on a police club in el-Arish.

In July, there were reports of attacks on military checkpoints in Sinai.