Cairo: Egypt’s interior ministry said a gunman shot dead a police major in Al Arish, the provincial capital of North Sinai, on Sunday night.
Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack on Monday.
Daesh’s Egypt affiliate said in a statement circulated on social media that its fighters “assassinated” the major and took his car and automatic rifle.
The group has kept up the attacks in Sinai, mostly roadside bombings and ambushes, despite a massive military campaign to uproot it.
Most of the group’s attacks have targeted security forces, but it has also attacked Egyptian Christians and tourists.
The group claimed responsibility for bombing a Russian airliner carrying holiday makers from an Egyptian resort last year, killing all 224 people on board.
