10 Egyptian soldiers killed in northern Sinai suicide bombing

Sources say ten Egyptian soldiers including one colonel were killed on Friday in a suicide bomb attack on an army checkpoint in northern Sinai,

According to security sources, two vehicles were detonated while passing a checkpoint in an area between Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

NAN reports that on April 9, ISIS claimed responsibility for two bomb blasts that struck Coptic churches in Egypt, in which 47 people were killed on Palm Sunday.

An explosion in the city of Tanta, about 90km north of Cairo killed 29 and injured 71 as they prayed at the Mar Girgis church.

A second blast struck the Egyptian port city of Alexandria three hours later, killing 18 and wounding 35.

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi announced a three-month state of emergency on Sunday night in response to the bombings after meeting his national security chiefs.

Egypt faces an Islamist insurgency led by Islamic State in North Sinai, where hundreds of soldiers and police have been killed since 2013 when the military ousted President Mohamed Mursi after mass protests.