Islamic State affiliate claims responsibility for ‘deadliest’ attack on Egyptian security forces

The responsibility for an attack, which killed at least 11 soldiers at a water pumping station located in the east of the Suez Canal, has been claimed by an Islamic State affiliate in Egypt, media reports said.  

The attack, where militants targeted troops at a checkpoint of the pumping facility, had taken place in Qantara town, Ismailia province of the country.  

In recent years, it seems to be one of the deadliest attacks on security forces in Egypt.  

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Five other soldiers were also wounded in the attack on Saturday, as per the Egyptian military.   

Separate funerals, which were attended by thousands of people, were held for the dead soldiers on Sunday.  

In a statement released on Telegram, the claim was made by the extremist group through its Aamaq news agency on Sunday.   

Earlier, security forces had said that they were "continuing to chase the terrorists and surround them in an isolated area of the Sinai".  

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On Facebook, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said that these terrorist operations will not be able to defeat the determination of the country and the army to continue uprooting terrorism.  

The US had also condemned the "terrorist attack in the Sinai targeting members of the Egyptian military."  

"For decades, the United States has been and remains Egypt's strong partner in confronting terrorism in the region," said State Department spokesman Ned Price in a statement.  

For more than a decade, Sinai Peninsula in Egypt has been gripped by an armed insurgency.   

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(With inputs from agencies)