Bloody Day in Sinai

Today's bloody clashes between jihadists and Egyptian security forces around the town of Sheikh Zuweid in northern Sinai is some of the worst violence yet in the peninsula, and marked the third straight day of bloodshed in Egypt after the assassination of the Prosecutor General on Monday and two bombings yesterday in the Cairo satellite suburb 6 October City.

Claims by the Army, the "Sinai Province of the Islamic State" (formerly Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, now Wilayat Sina') conflict, with the Army admitting to about 17 dead on its side after multiple attacks; other estimates of government losses are higher The Army struck back with air and helicopter attacks and claims to have killed 100 of the attackers.Sinai is a closed military zone with no media access, but all reports agree there were multiple attacks against Army checkpoints and police stations and that the attackers controlled the town of Sheikh Zuweid for a while.

And we are only halfway through Ramadan.