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IS Egypt affiliate says it launched rockets at Israel

July 3, 2015

Islamist group the "Sinai Province" has claimed responsibility for missiles fired at Israel, after days of clashes between the jihadis and Egyptian troops. The attack caused no casualties, Israeli officials say.

https://p.dw.com/p/1FsXe
Symbolbild Ägypten - Panzer in der Nähe des Rafah Grenzübergangs
Image: Getty Images/S. Khatib

The "Sinai Province", said Friday they launched the attack as a retaliation for alleged Israeli support of Egyptian army. The group is a closely tied to "Islamic State" (IS)

"Three Grad rockets were fired at Jewish positions in occupied Palestine," the group said in a statement posted on Twitter.

Earlier in the day, Israeli police had found remains of the rockets in the open field. Nobody was killed nor wounded by the missiles, launched across the Egyptian border from the Sinai Peninsula.

The jihadi group set off a surprise attack on Egyptian army checkpoints early Wednesday, killing dozens of soldiers, and prompting Cairo to deploy F-16 warplanes to bombard the IS affiliate.

While the "Sinai Province" claims Israeli troops supported the Egyptian forces during the heavy fighting, Israeli troops accused Hamas of helping the Islamist militants. Hamas denied the charge.

Prayers instead of celebration

The escalation in Sinai poses a fresh challenge to president and former military general Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who is known for his extremely tough stance towards Islamic extremists.

On Friday, Egypt marked the two-year anniversary of the military coup which ousted former Mohammed Morsi, with police breaking up a pro-Morsi protest in Cairo.

Supporters of Mursi's now-banned Muslim Brotherhood claim interior ministry forces had opened fire at the crowd. One person has been shot dead and two other people wounded, security sources say.

Instead of a planned celebration, the authorities organized a prayer for the week's dead, including soldiers killed in the Sinai attack and the chief prosecutor who was assassinated only days earlier.

dj/rc (AFP, Reuters, AP, dpa)