Egypt deploys more troops to Sinai after 9 killed in car bombing

Cairo. More troops have been deployed to Rafah city in Egypt’s North Sinai to quell violence after at least nine people were killed on Wednesday in twin car bombing attacks on security personnel in the restive peninsula.“Islamist terrorist elements carried out a treacherous attack against military premises by using two cars loaded with large quantities of explosives,”Armed Forces spokesman Ahmed Aly said. In a statement posed on the armed forces Facebook page, Aly said that seven people who were injured are civilians including three women. Meanwhile, a security source told Xinhua the bombing attack was carried out by two suicide bombers. The first targeted the army intelligence headquarters in Rafah, while the second exploded himself several kilometers away from the intelligence premises.A number of buildings in the area were damaged, the source added. Among the nine victims, seven are soldiers and two bodies belong to the suspects who launched the suicide bombings, the source said.The dark skin of the suspects implied that they may be of African origin, the source added, pointing out that the explosives are complicated which could not be made by the Sinai-based terrorist groups. At the same time, the armed forces deployed more troops in Sinai to eradicate the hideouts of the extremists who staged daily attacks on the army checkpoints and police stations since ouster of President Mohamed Morsi on July 3. Sinai-based Islamist militant group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis claimed responsibility for the attacks.The group said in a statement posed on its official website that it had killed more than six soldiers in the last couple of days and it was behind the assassination against Egypt’s interior minister last week in Cairo. It promised more attacks in revenge for the military operation against Morsi’s supporters on Aug. 14. Xinhua.