Militants kill 8 civilians, 2 soldiers in Egypt's Sinai

Eight civilians and two soldiers have been killed in an ambush by militants affiliated with the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

Security officials said militants from the Velayat Sinai terrorist group, previously known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, ambushed a convoy of trucks transporting cement from an army factory in central Sinai late Thursday.

The attack was carried out near the town of Nakhl, the officials said on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to the media.

The assailants also stole weapons and burned seven trucks.

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

Over the past few years, militants have been carrying out anti-government activities and fatal attacks, taking advantage of the turmoil in Egypt that erupted after the country's first democratically-elected president, Mohamed Morsi, was ousted in a military coup in July 2013.

SS