Militants launched near-simultaneous raids on at least five military checkpoints and a police station in and around Sheikh Zuweid in the north of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula in the wee hours of July 2. At least 100 militants and 17 soldiers were killed in the clashes. Ansar Bait Al-Maqdis [5], a Sinai-based group that pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2014, claimed responsibility for the attacks. North Sinai has been under a state of emergency and a curfew since October, when an attack on a checkpoint in el-Arish [6] left dozens of soldiers dead. In a separate development that day, security nine members of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood, including former MP Nasr al-Hafi, were killed in a police raid on an apartment in western Cairo. Following the riad, the Muslim Brotherhood issued a statement [7] saying that several of its leaders had been "murdered... in cold blood" and urged Egyptians to "rise in revolt" agains the government of President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. (BBC News [8], Egyptian Streets [9], July 1)
On June 30, two explosive devices detonated inside a car in greater Cairo's 6 October city, killing three people passengers and a by-stander. The bombs went off next to the Nakheel public market, although it is believed the car was headed for a police station. (Ahram Online [10], June 30)
