Seven Egyptians killed in IS attack on Sinai hotel
Several people were wounded in blast outside hotel, which hosts judges who had been overseeing parliamentary election
Smoke billowing from an explosion in Egypt's northern Sinai on 17 September (AFP)
Published date: 24 November 2015 15:41 GMT
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Last update: 9 years ago
The Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack on a north Sinai hotel on Tuesday that was hosting judges who were overseeing Egypt's parliamentary polls.
Two suicide bombers and a gunman killed seven people, including a judge, in the assault.
Welayat Sinai, the Egyptian affiliate IS issued a statement on Twitter praising the three attackers.
"A brother... seeking martyrdom hit with his car bomb the security force protecting the Swiss (Inn) hotel where 50 judges were staying, only to be followed by a lion who broke into the judges' base with his automatic weapon...then blew up his explosive belt among them," the statement said.
The interior ministry said two judges, four policemen and a civilian were killed in the blasts at the Swiss Inn hotel in the town of El-Arish, the provincial capital of North Sinai where militants are waging an insurgency.
The first blast was triggered by a suicide car bomber followed by a militant who set off an explosive vest, the ministry said in a statement.
A third attacker sneaked inside a hotel room and shot dead the judge, the military said in a statement.
It said both bombers set off their explosives when police confronted them and traded shots with the attacker wearing the explosives vest.
Two judges, eight officers and conscripts and two civilians were wounded in the blasts, the interior ministry said. The military said 12 people had been wounded, including soldiers and policemen.
State television aired footage of shattered hotel windows and a charred limb, and car parts flung into a hotel terrace by the blast.
Egypt held its second round of parliamentary elections on Sunday and Monday, its first legislative vote since the military overthrew elected president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
Morsi's ouster unleashed a deadly police crackdown on his followers, overseen by former military strongman Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.
Some Sinai militants have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers.
They have also claimed responsibility for bombing a Russian passenger plane after it left the south Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on 31 October, killing all 224 people on board.
Unlike the north of the peninsula, which has become a militant stronghold and is off limits to tourists, south Sinai is dotted with heavily secured Red Sea resorts.
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