Fighters kill three cement workers in Sinai

Egyptian military says unidentified attackers targeted a police vehicle, but hit a bus carrying workers by mistake.

El Arish map

Unidentified fighters have killed at least three people and wounded 17 others in North Sinai, security and medical sources have said.

The fighters reportedly fired rocket propelled grenades at a bus carrying factory cement workers in the city of El Arish in the restive Egyptian region.

Military spokesman Colonel Ahmed Aly said in a statement that a “terrorist group” were targeting a police vehicle, but hit the workers’ bus by mistake.

“The bus was attacked with a rocket-propelled grenade near El Arish airport. Three people died and 17 were injured in the attack,” a security official told the AFP news agency.

A medical source speaking to AFP also confirmed the toll, adding that “many of the injuries are critical”.

Sinai, bordering Israel and the besieged Gaza Strip, has been hit by a surge of violence since President Mohamed Morsi‘s ousting on July 3, with fighters killing a police officer early on Friday.

A Coptic Christian man was found decapitated a day earlier, while two people died in an attack on a checkpoint in the peninsula on Wednesday.

Source: News Agencies