Gunmen opened fire on an Egyptian police checkpoint near the famed Greek Orthodox Monastery of Saint Catherine in Sinai late on Tuesday, killing one policeman and wounding four, security and medical officials said.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack via its news agency Amaq.
According to the officials, the gunmen were shooting from an elevated hilltop overlooking the police checkpoint just outside the monastery, which is located in a remote desert and mountainous area in the southern part of the Sinai Peninsula.
After an exchange of gunfire, the attackers fled the scene, the officials said, adding that some of the gunmen were wounded in the shootout. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity under regulations. The attack on the monastery, built in the 6th century and a popular site for tourists visiting the Red Sea resorts along Sinai’s southern coast, comes just over a week after suicide bombers attacked two churches in the Nile Delta city of Tanta and the coastal city of Alexandria, killing 45 people on Palm Sunday. Egypt’s Sinai-based Islamic State affiliate claimed responsibility for those attacks.

source: haaretz.com