Three injured in clashes between local tribes, militants in Sinai

Three civilians have sustained injuries in clashes between militants and local tribes in Egypt’s volatile Sinai Peninsula, where the government is battling a Daesh-led insurgency.

Egyptian security sources said clashes erupted on the outskirts of the border town of Rafah, located 340 kilometers east of the capital, Cairo, on Sunday.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the injuries were the result of an RPG attack launched by the militants on a truck allegedly smuggling cigarettes into the area.

The officials noted that the Sunday attack had been in response to an earlier kidnapping of three militants by the local tribes.

The Sinai Peninsula has been under a state of emergency since October 2014, after a deadly terrorist attack left 33 Egyptian soldiers dead.

SS