An Egyptian man stands in an armoured vehicle as residents gather outside a police station in North Sinai's provincial capital of El-Arish after it was targeted by a car bomb on April 12, 2015. The bombing came hours after a roadside blast targeted an army vehicle killing at least six soldiers and wounding two in the peninsula, where security forces are battling an Islamist insurgency. AFP PHOTO / STR (Photo credit should read -/AFP/Getty Images)
The aftermath of a car bomb in the North Sinai capital of El-Arish earlier this year. © AFP

At least 64 soldiers were killed on Wednesday in a series of co-ordinated attacks claimed by militants from an affiliate of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, known as Isis, in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, stoking fears that the country is descending into a worsening cycle of violence.

More than 70 jihadis launched attacks on five separate checkpoints in and around Sheikh Zuweid in Northern Sinai, close to the border with Israel and the Gaza Strip, according to the Egyptian military. A statement from the army spokesman said that 10 soldiers and at least 23 attackers were killed and three vehicles armed with anti-aircraft guns were destroyed.

But speaking on the condition of anonymity, security officials told the Associated Press that at least 50 troops had been killed in simultaneous attacks targeting at least six military checkpoints and included a suicide car bomb. Militants reportedly took soldiers captive and seized several armoured vehicles, the official added.

In a statement posted on Twitter, Sinai Province, the Egyptian affiliate of Isis, claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying it had targeted more than 15 security locations, and carried out three suicide attacks.

Separately, special forces killed nine members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, including a former member of parliament, during a raid on a Cairo apartment on Wednesday.

The violence in Sinai was the deadliest since the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi in 2013 and analysts say it shows a significant change in the type of warfare used by militants in Egypt.

“This has been a longer and more sustained operation than we’ve seen previously. This isn’t the sort of hit and run you usually see in their operations,” said Zack Gold, a visiting fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. “But the other development that is most worrying for me is the apparent almost invasion of Sheikh Zuweid, creating an urban warfare environment.”

“If accurate, they show a real movement toward real Islamic State-type of fighting, not a hit and run insurgency, but actual urban warfare,” Mr Gold said.

The Egyptian army launched air strikes on parts of Sheikh Zuweid, raising fears of civilian casualties. Mohamed Samir, a spokesman for Egypt’s army, confirmed air strikes were ongoing and posted aerial photos of militants that were targeted on his Facebook page.

Mostafa Singer, an Egyptian journalist in the area wrote on Twitter: “F16s are in the skies after a series of massive explosions in Sheikh Zuweid.” He later wrote: “Now we are under attack . . . pray for us.”

The violence comes two days after the assassination in Cairo of public prosecutor Hisham Barakat, the highest level official to be assassinated since 1990. In an emotional address at Barakat’s funeral, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi said: “The hand of justice is shackled by the law. We’re not going to wait for this. We’re going to amend the law to allow us to implement justice as soon as possible.”

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“A death sentence will be issued, a death sentence will be implemented. A life sentence will be issued, a life sentence will be implemented,” he said, waving his fist.

On Wednesday evening Egypt’s cabinet passed a new antiterrorism law without giving any details. It also requested a swifter appeals process according to the state news agency.

Barakat, who referred thousands of Islamists to trial over the past two years, was seen as the architect of the state’s crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, a group that rose to power in the country’s first democratic elections following the 2011 revolution. Since the July 2013 coup that removed Mr Morsi, a Brotherhood member, hundreds of the group’s leaders and supporters have been sentenced to death in speedy trials that have been criticised internationally for lacking due process. However, only seven executions have been carried out.

Egyptian officials have blamed the Brotherhood for Barakat’s assassination, although the group denied responsibility and security analysts said the attack bore the hallmarks of Sinai-based militants.

At Barakat’s funeral pro-government protesters draped in Egyptian flags chanted “the people demand the execution of the Muslim Brotherhood!” and some stamped on pictures of Mr Morsi.

In response to Wednesday’s violence, Israel shut the border crossings at Kerem Shalom, the main crossing for goods into the Gaza Strip, and Nitzana, used for commercial traffic between Israel and Egypt.

Additional reporting by John Reed in Jerusalem

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