Egypt tribesmen kill 8 suspected IS militants in Sinai

CAIRO – A powerful local tribe in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula says it killed eight suspected Islamic State fighters in battle and captured three more.

The Tarabeen tribe has clashed repeatedly with a local IS affiliate in recent weeks, opening a new front against the insurgency raging in the northern Sinai, which borders Gaza and Israel.

Moussa al-Delh, a senior member of the tribe, said the clashes broke out Tuesday in the town of Rafah along the Gaza border, and that no tribesmen were killed.

Egyptian security forces have been battling the extremists in the northern Sinai for years. The insurgency grew far more deadly following the military overthrow of an elected Islamist president in 2013. IS has claimed three recent church bombings on the mainland that killed dozens of worshippers.