State media reported on Friday attacks on security posts in north Sinai, when armed groups targeted five military and police checkpoints in the area with heavy arms, killing a conscript and injuring three.
The attacks were perpetrated on Al-Masoura, Sheikh Zuwayid, Al-Jora, Abu Tawila and the Airsh airport checkpoints.
Security sources said that the military deployed shoppers to identify the attackers. According to the state-run Al-Ahram, an Apache bombed the car attacking the Arish airport checkpoint.
The state-run Middle East News Agency reported that the Rafah border crossing, the main lifeline of movement for the Palestinians of Gaza, was closed in the aftermath of the attacks. An official source told the agency that the closure is only temporary for security reasons and that it will reopen on Saturday.
Security sources told Reuters that they expected the attacks and that they are coordinated by a high level of organization since they targeted six posts at the same time. The source said that five hundred militants have been identified in north Sinai and have been moving using two hundred cars.
Meanwhile, in a statement this week, the Muslim Brotherhood announced its rejection of any form of violence.
Scattered incidents of violence around Egypt took place after a military statement on Wednesday ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi and replaced him temporarily with the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court Adly Mansour.
Sinai has been the site of repeated attacks by militant groups, who have been operating in the peninsula amidst the state`s inability to secure the area. People in Sinai often refer to the security problem in the peninsula as a product of state political and economic neglect.
[This article originally appeared on Mada Masr.]