Arish hotel bombing

Last updated
2015 Arish attack
Part of the Sinai insurgency
Egypt adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Al-Arish
Al-Arish (Egypt)
Location Flag of Egypt.svg Al-Arish, North Sinai, Egypt
Date24 November 2015
07:00 (EET)
TargetElection officials, security forces
Attack type
Suicide bombing, car bombing, shooting
Deaths7
Injured10+
PerpetratorsAQMI Flag asymmetric.svg Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

The Arish hotel bombing was a terrorist attack on a hotel in the coastal city of Al-Arish, Egypt, on 24 November 2015. A group of militants approached the heavily guarded hotel with a car bomb, but Egyptian security forces opened fire at the vehicle, blowing it up before it could reach the building. One of the two attackers managed to get inside the hotel, where a number of people were injured and killed as a result of gunfire and a subsequent suicide bombing. Authorities reported at least seven dead, including two judges who had been in Al-Arish to supervise the country's second round of parliamentary elections, held the day before. The Islamic State's Wilayat Sinai offshoot claimed responsibility in a statement released later the same day. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Attack

The attack began at around 7 a.m. when a vehicle driven by a suicide bomber approached the area of the Swiss Inn Resort in Al-Arish. [2] The car exploded after security forces opened fire, but another militant managed to gain entry into the building, shooting several people and detonating his suicide belt near the kitchen area. [1] The hotel had been housing judges responsible for overseeing the second round of parliamentary elections, which was held the day before the assault. [2]

Responsibility

The Islamic State's Wilayat Sinai branch claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on social media. The group said it was in response to the Egyptian government's imprisonment of women, but it did not provide further details. [2]

Impact

See also

Related Research Articles

This page is a partial listing of incidents of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terrorism in Egypt</span> List of terrorist attacks in Egypt from the 1940s to the present day

Terrorism in Egypt in the 20th and 21st centuries has targeted the Egyptian government officials, Egyptian police and Egyptian army members, tourists, Sufi Mosques and the Christian minority. Many attacks have been linked to Islamic extremism, and terrorism increased in the 1990s when the Islamist movement al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya targeted high-level political leaders and killed hundreds – including civilians – in its pursuit of implementing traditional Sharia law in Egypt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Eagle</span> 2011 Egyptian military campaign in the Sinai Peninsula against the Sinai Insurgency

Operation Eagle was an Egyptian military campaign in the Sinai Peninsula, that was launched in August 2011 to confront the Sinai insurgency. The campaign was aimed against Islamist insurgents, who had been attacking the Egyptian security forces in the Sinai and using the area as a base from which to attack Israel since early 2011. Successive Egyptian operation against insurgents in 2012, named Operation Sinai, was initially referred as the second part of Operation Eagle. It was the first in a number of campaigns to retake the Sinai from insurgents which was achieved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sinai insurgency</span> Defunct insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula

The Sinai insurgency was an insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, launched by Islamist militants against Egyptian security forces, which have also included attacks on civilians. The insurgency began during the Egyptian Crisis, during which the longtime Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in the 2011 Egyptian revolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Sinai (2012)</span> Egyptian military campaign against the Sinai Insurgency (2012-present)

Operation Sinai is an ongoing Egyptian military campaign, launched in early August 2012, against Islamic militants within the Sinai Peninsula to crush the Sinai Insurgency. The operation came as a direct response to the 2012 Egyptian-Israeli border attack on 5 August 2012. The operation was initially reported as part of "Operation Nisr", but on 3 September 2012, the Egyptian army issued a statement requesting media sources to use the official name "Operation Sinai."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ansar Bait al-Maqdis</span> Defunct Egyptian jihadist militant group (2011-14)

Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, or Ansar Al-Quds, was a jihadist, extremist terrorist group based in Sinai from 2011-14.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Taba bus bombing</span> Terrorist attack in Taba, Egypt on 16 February 2014

The 2014 Taba bus bombing was a terrorist attack on a tourist coach in Taba, Egypt on 16 February 2014. The bus had been parked, waiting to cross into Israel at the Taba Border Crossing, when a lone suicide bomber entered the open bus and detonated his explosives. Four people – three South Koreans and the Egyptian bus driver were killed, and 17 others injured.

On 24 October 2014, ISIL militants launched two attacks on Egyptian army positions in the Sinai Peninsula, killing at least 33 security personnel. This was one of the deadliest assaults on the Egyptian military in decades.

The following lists events that happened during 2015 in Egypt.

On 29 January 2015, militants from the ISIL-affiliated Wilayat Sinai militant group launched a series of attacks on army and police bases in Arish using car bombs and mortars. The attacks, which occurred in more than six different locations, resulted in 44 deaths.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamic State in Libya</span> Branch of Islamic State in Libya

The Islamic State – Libya Province is a militant Islamist group active in Libya under three branches: Fezzan Province in the desert south, Cyrenaica Province in the east, and Tripolitania Province in the west. The branches were formed on 13 November 2014, following pledges of allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by militants in Libya.

The following is a chronological timeline of fatal incidents during the ongoing Sinai insurgency, which was invigorated by a period of relative instability and political turmoil in Egypt, beginning with the 2011 uprising against former autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Insurgent attacks, however, intensified significantly following the July 2013 coup that ousted Muslim Brotherhood-backed president Mohamed Morsi and subsequent crackdown on his supporters.

On 1 July 2015, the IS-affiliated Sinai Province militant group launched the largest scale battle the Sinai Peninsula has seen since the 1973 Yom Kippur War, killing 21 soldiers in the numerous attacks which targeted multiple Egyptian army checkpoints and the Sheikh Zuweid police station in the Sinai Peninsula. More than 100 militants were reportedly killed by the army during the battle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamic State – Sinai Province</span> Branch of the Salafi jihadist group IS

The Islamic State – Sinai Province was a branch of the terrorist Islamist group Islamic State that was active in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt.

This article contains a timeline of events from January 2015 to December 2015 related to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/ISIS). This article contains information about events committed by or on behalf of the Islamic State, as well as events performed by groups who oppose them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of terrorism in Egypt (2013–present)</span> Islamist insurgency in Egypt

In July 2013, at the same time as mass protests began against the 3 July coup d'état which deposed Mohamed Morsi, and in parallel with the escalation of the already ongoing jihadist insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula, pro-Muslim Brotherhood militants started violent attacks against policemen and soldiers in central and western Egypt. In the following months, new Islamist armed groups were created to reinstate Islamist rule in Egypt, like Soldiers of Egypt and the Popular Resistance Movement. Since 2013, violence in mainland Egypt has escalated and developed into a low-level Islamist insurgency against the Egyptian government.

The Zliten truck bombing occurred on 7 January 2016, when Islamist militants detonated a truck bomb at the police training camp al-Jahfal in the coastal town of Zliten, Libya. Libyan authorities said at least 60 policemen were killed and over 200 were wounded. Concrete buildings inside the compound were charred from the blast and their windows blown out; nearby cars were turned into black and twisted metal wrecks. The head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, Martin Kobler, said the blast was a suicide attack.

The October 2016 Sinai attacks was a terrorist attack on an Egyptian army checkpoint in the city of Bir al-Abed, Egypt, on 14 October 2016. A group of militants armed with assault rifles and heavier weapons attacked an Egyptian army checkpoint while mortar rounds and rockets were fired directed to a military checkpoint. In response, the Egyptian military forces killed around 15 militants following the attack. The Islamic State's Wilayat Sinai branch claimed responsibility in a statement released later the same day.

At 1:50 PM EET on 24 November 2017, the al-Rawda mosque was attacked by roughly 40 gunmen during Friday prayers. The mosque is located in the village of Al-Rawda east of the town of Bir al-Abed in Egypt's North Sinai Governorate. It is one of the main mosques associated with the Jaririya Sufi order, one of the largest Sufi orders in North Sinai. The Jaririya order is named for its founder, Sheikh Eid Abu Jarir, who was a member of the Sawarka tribe and the Jarira clan. The Jarira clan resides in the vicinity of Bir al-Abed. The attack killed 311 people and injured at least 128, making it the deadliest attack in Egyptian history. It was the second-deadliest terrorist attack of 2017, after the Mogadishu bombings on 14 October. The attack was universally condemned by many world leaders and organizations.

On July 21, 2020, jihadists from Islamic State – Sinai Province (ISSP) attacked an Egyptian military camp in the village of Rabaa, on the outskirts of Bir al-Abd, Sinai Peninsula. The attack was in preparation for a larger assault on an Egyptian security complex in the town, but Egyptian forces repelled the attack. ISSP militants then fled and captured four towns near Bir el-Abd, which they occupied until October. Booby-trapped buildings in the towns then killed fourteen civilians. The attack was the most significant attack by ISSP against Egyptian forces in several years.

References

  1. 1 2 "ISIS Claims Hotel Attack That Killed 7, Wounded 10 in Egypt's Sinai". NBC News. Associated Press. 24 November 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Militants Attack Hotel in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, Killing at Least 7". The New York Times . 24 November 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  3. Hashem, Mostafa (24 November 2015). "IS militants claim hotel attack that killed seven in Egypt's Sinai". Reuters.

31°08′02″N33°46′01″E / 31.133916°N 33.766811°E / 31.133916; 33.766811