Special to WorldTribune.com

Islamic State of Iraq and Levant’s (ISIL’s) affiliate in Egypt claimed responsibility for a bombing on Nov. 24 that killed five people at a hotel in al-Arish in northern Sinai where election judges were staying.

Egypt’s Health Ministry reported five dead and 17 wounded in the attack by ISIL affiliate Sinai Province. Egypt’s military and witnesses said one terrorist drove a car bomb into the hotel and a second entered the guest rooms and killed a judge before blowing himself up.

“A brother … seeking martyrdom hit with his car bomb the security force protecting the Swiss (Inn) hotel where 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,” Sinai Province said in a statement on Twitter.

Two judges and three policemen were killed, the military said.

The terror attack followed the second round of voting in Egypt’s parliamentary election that was held on Nov. 23.

“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,” a military statement read.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s Nour Party, the lone Islamist party remaining in Egypt, is blaming government tactics for its poor showing in the elections.

The Nour Salafists have accused President Abdul Fatah Sisi’s government of arresting some of its members and launching a media campaign against the party’s candidates.

In the first round of voting, Nour won just nine seats out of the 286 contested, a steep drop for a party that finished second behind the Muslim Brotherhood in 2012.

“This result does not represent the true political or societal weight of Salafis in Egypt,” said Yasser Borhami, second in command of Nour’s parent organization, the Salafi Calling.

Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abu Bakr Abdel Karim said the Nour Party’s accusations were false and that “we do not interfere in the electoral process. The Interior Ministry provides for the voting process’s electoral needs. We are completely neutral.”

Nour backed the Muslim Brotherhood during Mohammed Morsi’s brief reign, then switched allegiances to Sisi in 2013.

Sisi has described the 2015 elections as the final step on Egypt’s move toward democracy and experts say the Nour Party’s influence has diminished significantly.

Hani Sarhan, a former Nour official in the city of Fayoum, said the party lost credibility by not taking a firm political stand.

“The changing face of the party destroyed its popularity,” he said. “The Muslim Brotherhood came to power and they backed it. Then Sisi came along and they dropped the Brotherhood and backed him instead.”

  Abdul Fatah Sisi, El Arish, ISIL claims attack that killed 5 at Sinai hotel housing Egypt election judges, Nour Party, Sinai Province, WorldTribune.com