12 Egyptian soldiers killed in Sinai attack

An attack on an Egyptian military checkpoint in northern Sinai killed 12 soldiers and wounded six others on Friday (October 14th), AFP reported.

Mortar rounds were fired at an army post in the Bir al-Abd area west of al-Arish, the provincial capital of North Sinai, officials said.

"Terrorist elements attacked a checkpoint in the northern Sinai. The clashes left 12 soldiers dead and wounded six others," the army spokesman said in a statement, adding that "15 terrorists were killed".

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

"Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL) affiliate Wilayat Sinai has claimed a number of previous attacks on security forces in Sinai, though Bir al-Abd has so far been largely spared the violence that has rocked northern Sinai over the past three years.