FOURTEEN MEMBERS OF ISLAMIC MILITANT AND EIGHT EGYPTIAN SOLDIERS WERE KILLED ON SATURDAY IN CENTRAL SINAI, FEW HOURS AFTER THE PRESIDENT EXTENDED THE COUNTRY’S STATE OF EMERGENCY.

On Saturday, April 14, 2018, fourteen Islamic militants and eight soldiers were killed in central Sinai when gunmen carrying explosive belts and grenades targeted a military checkpoint. This happened hours after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi extended the state of emergency the country imposed last year (April 2017). The country’s state of emergency was extended for three months from Saturday and the law limits freedom of movement, gives police more power to arrest, surveillance and seizure. According to the information we received concerning the attack, four of the militants who attacked the checkpoint detonated their explosive belts and eight soldiers were killed while about fifteen people were wounded. Since 2013 President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt has been fighting insurgency in the Northern Sinai.