Attacks by the Islamic State group have spiked in its areas of activities around the world, including in the Sinai Peninsula, where Egyptian armed forces have spent years battling the terrorist organization, a new report by an Israeli think tank said on Wednesday.
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The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center noted a discernible rise in attacks in various ISIS flashpoints across the globe in the past two weeks, attributing the rise to the organization's declaration of a campaign of revenge for the deaths of the former leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, and the group's former spokesman, both killed in February in an American counter-terrorism raid in Idlib, Syria.
According to the report, multiple attacks occurred in the northern Sinai in recent days, including a shooting attack on April 25 targeting an Egyptian army patrol south of the town of Sheikh Zuweid. Two Egyptian soldiers were killed and a third was wounded. An exchange of fire on the same day took place between ISIS terrorists and fighters from a Sinai Bedouin tribal union that supports the Egyptian army.
The pro-Egyptian militia received air support during that exchange from manned and unmanned aircraft, according to the report. Six Bedouin fighters were killed, it added.
Roadside bombs and ambushes occurred in other areas of northern Sinai as well in April.
The Egyptian military's campaign against ISIS is backed by armed Bedouins who support the Egyptian effort.
The report said that on April 22, two Bedouin fighters who were abducted by ISIS were executed. Two days later, an ISIS-affiliated media outlet released video footage showing the murder of men it claimed were "spies," who were likely the abducted victims.
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Earlier this month, the Islamic State group's official media platform, Al-Furqan, released a statement calling on its supporters in Israel to conduct terror attacks.
The spokesman said ISIS terrorists in Israel "fought and were killed for the sake of Allah and religion," and criticized the terrorists belonging to Fatah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who he said battle for "land and homeland."
JNS.org contributed to this report.
