Seven service members of the Egyptian military were reportedly killed when ISIS terrorists attacked a city on the eastern bank of Egypt’s strategic Suez Canal.
ISIS terrorists, who came from the direction of the Sinai Peninsula, stormed the city of el-Qantara late on November 19. Taking local security forces by surprise, the terrorists managed to occupy a number of government buildings, a local school and a collage in the city.
Heavy clashes went on in the city until the early morning of November 20, when Egyptian warplanes intervened and targeted a school where a number of terrorists were holding up. The surviving terrorists withdrew from the city, likely towards their hideouts in Sinai.
The London-based New Arab said that the battle in el-Qantara claimed the lives of two officers and five soldiers of the Egyptian military. ISIS losses remain unknown.
ISIS confirmed its responsibility for the large-scale attack on el-Qantara in a statement released by its official news agency, Amaq, on November 20.
This was not the first attack by ISIS near the Suez Canal this year. On May 7, the group’s cells in Sinai attacked a water pumping station in el-Qantara. At least 11 service members were killed in the attack, which was one of the deadliest against Egyptian troops in recent years. Following the attack, the Egyptian military deployed several units of the elite Airborne Corps and the El-Sa’ka Forces in western Sinai.
Egyptian military reinforcements and enhanced security measures on the eastern bank of the Suez Canal were not apparently enough to keep ISIS terrorists away. The large-scale attack on el-Qantara indicates that more should be done to address the threat posed by the terrorist group.
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