Special to WorldTribune.com

CAIRO — Egypt’s largest insurgency group, which sustained major losses over the last year, has launched major strikes in the Sinai Peninsula.

Ansar Beit Maqdis, now part of Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, conducted a series of attacks on the Egyptian Army and police in Sinai. The attacks on Jan. 29, for which Ansar claimed responsibility, were said to have killed at least 27 people in El Arish, the capital of the North Sinai province, Middle East Newsline reported.

“The attacks were meant to show that the terrorists could still operate in northern Sinai,” an official said.

Officials said Ansar fired mortars and rockets, stormed facilities as well as detonated several car bombs in El Arish, the regional headquarters of the Egyptian Army and Central Security Forces. They acknowledged that Ansar operatives penetrated the new security system meant to monitor incoming traffic in the provincial capital, under night curfew since October 2014.

The insurgency attacks, reported to have injured around 40, were deemed the largest in months in Sinai. Officials said Ansar sustained major losses in army and CSF operations throughout 2014, particularly in the corridor between El Arish and Rafah, located along the border of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Ansar’s targets included an army base, CSF checkpoints and a hotel. The car bombs were said to have been detonated near the security headquarters for the North Sinai province.

“More than one car bomb was detonated,” Egypt’s official Middle East News Agency said.

  Ansar, backed by ISIL, goes on rampage in northern Sinai, WorldTribune.com