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ISIS Affiliate Unleashes Blood Bath in Sinai

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JERUSALEM, Israel -- The death toll in the latest terror attacks in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula rose to 27 when Islamists affiliated with the Egyptian branch of Islamic State detonated a roadside bomb, killing a police officer in the city of Suez.

The bombing Thursday evening followed two earlier attacks in al-Arish and Rafah using mortar shells and an explosives-laden car.

Egyptian sources say the death toll may rise further, with media reporting nearly 40 others injured in the attacks.

Since the July 2013 ouster of longtime Muslim Brotherhood member Mohammed Morsi from the presidency, the Egyptian government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has been cracking down on Sinai-based Islamic terror groups, such as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis.

After their recent alignment with the Islamic State, the groups renamed their entity Sinai Province.

The government has destroyed dozens of Hamas smuggling tunnels near the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip. It recently began demolishing houses in the city of Rafah, some with openings to tunnels inside.

Egypt has been constructing a buffer zone, now spanning more than half a mile, according to media reports.

El-Sisi cut short a visit to Ethopia for a meeting of the African Union to return to Cairo on Friday, according to MENA, the Egyptian state-run news agency.

The Egyptian leader made it clear his government opposes terrorism wherever it exists -- the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, or Sinai Province. He recently said Islam needs to clean house, to rid itself of extremists who embrace violence.

Despite media reports to the contrary, military cooperation between Egypt and Israel, which diminished somewhat during Morsi's one-year term, is very good.

When el-Sisi's government began its crackdown in September 2013, Israel set aside stipulations in the Camp David Accords to assist in the efforts. At the time, Egypt asked Israel for permission to send troops and military paraphernalia to the desert, a move that made some Israelis nervous.

Both Egypt and Israel recognize the threat Islamic terrorism poses. So they're working together, though quietly.

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About The Author

Tzippe
Barrow

From her perch high atop the mountains surrounding Jerusalem, Tzippe Barrow tries to provide a bird’s eye view of events unfolding in her country. Tzippe’s parents were born to Russian Jewish immigrants, who fled the czar’s pogroms to make a new life in America. As a teenager, Tzippe wanted to spend a summer in Israel, but her parents, sensing the very real possibility that she might want to live there, sent her and her sister to Switzerland instead. Twenty years later, the Lord opened the door to visit the ancient homeland of her people.