Egyptian police arrested two men on Wednesday (March 8th) for spreading the ideology of the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL) and aiding North Sinai militants via social media platforms, Egypt's Ahram Online reported.
Police said they arrested an 18-year-old man in the Red Sea governorate of Sharqiya for running a social media page aimed at spreading ISIL's extremist ideology, and another man who was communicating with North Sinai militants via social media.
Authorities say the second suspect provided militant groups in North Sinai with information that aided them in carrying out terrorist attacks, according to state security investigations.
The two men have been placed under a 15-day precautionary detention pending further investigations.
Egypt's anti-terrorism law mandates a five-year prison sentence for anyone creating a website that calls for terrorist actions, impedes justice or provides a platform for exchanging information about terrorists and their movements.
Meanwhile, a North Sinai police colonel was killed Wednesday night and three other policemen were injured in a bomb attack on a North Sinai checkpoint.
Col. Yasser al-Hadidi was killed when a bomb exploded near his patrol in al-Arish, in the vicinity of the city’s third police station, the Interior Ministry said.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
