Five Egyptian troops on Thursday were killed and 20 injured, including ten civilians, in militant attacks on two security checkpoints in northern Sinai, a security source has said.
Militants fired at two checkpoints in Sinai's Sheikh Zuweid town on Thursday morning, leaving five troops dead and ten others injured, the source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Anadolu Agency.
According to the source, Egyptian security forces fired back at the assailants, killing 15 of them.
Medical sources have said that ten civilians were hospitalized on Thursday from injuries sustained in the crossfire between security forces and the militants near the site of the attacks.
Egyptian authorities have been cracking down on militants in the Sinai Peninsula, which shares borders with Israel and the Gaza Strip, for over a year.
The campaign comes amid a spike in militant attacks on security personnel since the 2013 ouster of elected President Mohamed Morsi by the army.
www.aa.com.tr/en - Kahire
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