Sinai attacks kill at least 26 people

An Egyptian militant group linked to the Islamic State claimed responsibility for overnight attacks in the Sinai peninsula that left at least 26 members of the security forces and civilians dead.

The assault late Thursday, the most deadly jihadist strike since 30 troops were killed in October, included a suicide bombing on a regional security headquarters in north Sinai and mortar fire. Among other targets hit was a hotel. More than 100 people were wounded, state media said, while Al-Jazeera television put the toll as high as 42. Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis said it carried out the strike.

Violence in Sinai has flared since the military-backed ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in 2013, and amid a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood that backed his presidency. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who led the removal of Morsi as army chief before winning the presidency, needs an improvement in security as he seeks to lure back the investors who have deserted Egypt during four years of turmoil.

Egyptian officials declared a state of emergency in north Sinai after the October attack and changed the law to allow civilians charged with terrorism to be tried in military courts.

The country's border with the Gaza Strip, run by the militant group Hamas, which is allied to the Brotherhood, was closed, and a kilometer-wide buffer zone abutting the territory was enforced.

Egypt's army spokesman said in a statement on his official Facebook page that the latest attack came as a result of "successful strikes by the armed forces and police against terrorist" outfits.

Sisi cut short a trip to Ethiopia and returned to Egypt, where he was briefed by his defense chief, state-run Ahram Gate reported. In a separate attack, a police officer was killed in the city of Suez.

The security offensive against Islamists under Sisi, which has been widened to include social activists, has drawn criticism from rights groups that maintain Egypt is returning to the kind of police state run by former dictator Hosni Mubarak.

More than 1,000 Brotherhood supporters have been killed and 20,000 arrested.

About two dozen people died as police confronted protesters marking last weekend's fourth anniversary of the revolt that toppled Mubarak.

The Interior Ministry has vowed a full investigation into the death during those demonstrations of a woman whose final moments were captured by photographers. Those responsible will be brought to justice, even if they are from within police ranks, it said.