Sinai attacks kill 2 Egyptian soldiers, policeman

Gunmen killed two Egyptian soldiers and a policeman on Sunday in three separate attacks in the restive Sinai peninsula, which borders Israel, security and medical sources told AFP. The unidentified assailants in the town of El-Arish shot dead one soldier in front of the television and broadcasting building and another who was on guard duty, and killed the policeman in an attack on a police station, a security source said. The attack on the broadcasting and television building also wounded two other soldiers, medical sources said. Since the military coup that toppled Islamist president Mohamed Morsi on July 3 after massive nationwide protests, militant groups have launched almost daily attacks on troops and police in the Sinai. Sunday's attacks bring to 18 the number of security forces personnel killed -- 14 policemen and four soldiers -- since Morsi's ouster. Two Egyptian Christians were also killed in the region, one of them found decapitated five days after being kidnapped. Analysts attribute the Sinai violence to Islamist extremists seeking to take advantage of the political insecurity in the country after Morsi's ouster.