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Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi will cut short his visit to Ethiopia where an African summit is due to kick off within moments and would return home to follow up the situation in Sinai Peninsula hit by a series of deadly attacks late Thursday, a presidential statement said Friday.
"Following the terrorist attacks that hit Northern Sinai late Thursday, President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi decided to only attend the opening session of the African Union summit and return to Cairo to follow up the situation," the presidential release said.
At least 26 people had been reportedly killed and 45 others injured in multiple attacks that targeted military and security sites in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. No official death toll has been given yet.
The "Welayet Sinai" militant group (formerly known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis) has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Egyptian security forces have been waging a campaign against militants in Sinai – which shares borders with both Israel and the Gaza Strip – amid a rise in attacks on army and police personnel since the ouster of elected President Mohamed Morsi in mid-2013.
Welayet Sinai has claimed responsibility for a number of previous deadly attacks on security personnel, both in restive Sinai and in other parts of Egypt.
The group acquired its current name after reportedly swearing allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), a militant group that captured vast territories in both Iraq and Syria last year.
On Oct., 31 soldiers were killed in an attack on a military site in North Sinai, prompting Egyptian authorities to declare a state of emergency and curfew in some areas of the restive province.
The curfew was renewed for three more months on Jan. 25.
www.aa.com.tr/en - Kahire
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