Bombs hit Egyptian hotel where election judges were staying

Islamic State’s Egyptian branch claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed four people in a hotel in North Sinai capital al-Arish on Tuesday where judges overseeing a parliamentary election were staying.

A militant tried to drive a car bomb into the hotel before security forces opened fire on him, causing the car to explode, the military said.

A suicide bomber got inside the kitchen and blew himself up while a gunman got into a room before firing randomly and killing a judge, they said.

Twelve people were wounded.Two policemen were killed and the military said a civilian was among the dead. It said three militants were killed.

The blasts were in al-Arish, the provincial capital in North Sinai and followed Monday’s second round of Egypt’s parliamentary election.

A statement from the Islamic State Sinai Province group was circulated by its supporters on Twitter and the encrypted messaging system Telegram.

“A brother ... seeking martyrdom hit with his car bomb the security force protecting the Swiss (Inn) hotel were 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,” read the statement.

An Egyptian military statement read: “This brutal incident is a failed attempt to hinder the state from building its institution but we assure all that it will increase the drive and insistence of the armed forces and the Interior Ministry to weed out the roots of terrorism in North Sinai.”

Reuters