Officials: Militants kill 4 workers in Egypt’s Sinai

EL-ARISH, Egypt – Egyptian officials say militants have attacked construction workers in the restive northern Sinai Peninsula, killing at least four civilian workers.

The officials say Saturday’s attack took place in the Mediterranean city of el-Arish as workers were building a fence around the city’s airport. They say the militants wounded five other workers and burned two vehicles.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which bore hallmarks of an affiliate of the Islamic State group.

Egypt has been battling Islamic militants for years, but the insurgency gathered steam and grew deadlier after the 2013 ouster of an Islamist president by President Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi, then defence minister.

The country’s security forces launched an all-out offensive against militants in February last year.