The group has killed thousands of Egyptian security personnel. Anedoctal evidence suggests that the group finances its activities by smuggling goods between the Sinai and Gaza. The group has also smuggled weapons from
Libya into Sinai. • On 1 July 2015, the group launched a
large scale assault in and around the Sinai town of
Sheikh Zuweid, eventually being driven back by Egyptian security forces after at least 100 militants and 17 soldiers were killed in the fighting. According to Brian Fishman of the
New America Foundation, the tactics used by the attackers - suicide bombers backed up by direct and indirect fire, mortar fire in combination with small arms, and simultaneous assaults in multiple locations — suggested a transfer of knowledge from IS fighters in Iraq and Syria. • The group claimed to have shot three
Grad rockets on 3 July 2015 from Sinai to southern Israel near the
Gaza Strip. Two rocket hits were confirmed in
Eshkol, which did not result in any injury or property damage. Israel did not respond to the attack. • On 16 July 2015, the group claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on an Egyptian Navy patrol boat on the north coast of Sinai, close to the Gaza Strip. • On 12 August 2015, the group stated it had
beheaded a hostage, a Croatian man named Tomislav Salopek, after its demands were not met. • The group claimed responsibility for bringing down Russian aircraft
Metrojet Flight 9268, carrying 224 passengers. It was flying to
Saint Petersburg from
Sharm el-Sheikh on 31 October 2015, when it broke up over Hasna (Egypt), killing all on board. Data obtained from the airplane
black boxes gives credence to the theory that there was a bomb attack. On 17 November 2015, Russian President
Vladimir Putin confirmed that a bomb attack brought down the aircraft. • One of the group's leaders, Ashraf Ali Hassanein Gharabali, was shot and killed in a shoot-out with Egyptian security forces in Cairo on 10 November 2015. The Egyptian Interior Ministry linked Gharabali to a string of attacks including an assassination attempt on the Interior Minister. • The group claimed responsibility for an attack on the
Arab gas pipeline on 7 January 2016. • In December 2016, the group revealed the name of its governor or
wali (leader) to be Abu Hajar al-Hashemi. • In February 2017, IS-linked operatives launched four Grad rockets from Egyptian territory in Sinai peninsula on the Israeli southernmost city of
Eilat, prompting the Israeli
Iron Dome system to intercept three of the rockets, with no physical casualties or damage reported, though 11 civilians were brought to hospital to be treated for shock. • In March 2017, the group released a video titled "The Light of the Islamic Law", in which they were shown blowing up Egyptian patrols, destroying TV sets, desecrating and detonating graves, executing prisoners and captured Egyptian soldiers, and beheading two old men (one an elder who voiced opposition to IS, and the other a street magician performer). • It was reported on 21 April 2017 that an Egyptian air raid killed 19 IS fighters, including three unnamed leaders. • On July 7, IS-Sinai Province militants encircled and ambushed an Egyptian military base in Rafah known as el Barth, 20 Egyptian troops were killed (including colonel
Ahmed Mansi) and 3 others wounded. 46 IS-Sinai province militants were killed with the loss of 6 vehicles. Most of the base was demolished after a suicidal car bomb. • On 24 November 2017, In the
Bir al-Abed attack jihadists killed 311 people and injured at least 122. • On 19 December 2017, one officer was killed and two were injured in a failed assassination attempt on the Minister of Interior
Magdi Abdel-Ghaffar and the minister of defense
Sedki Sobhy. • On 29 December 2017, 11 were killed in the
attack on Saint Menas church in
Helwan (south of
Cairo). • In January 2018, IS-Sinai released a video which showed the execution of an accused Hamas smuggler for smuggling weapons to Hamas’ Izz al-Din al‑Qassam Brigades. • From 2018 to 2020, 840 militants were killed by Egyptian Security Forces who lost 67 soldiers in return. In March 2020, Egyptian forces managed to kill Abu Fares Al-Ansari, a commander of Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, in Al Ajra' area south of Rafah. • On 1 May 2020, IS claimed responsibility via its Amaq News Agency for a bombing that killed and wounded several Egyptian Army personnel near the city of Bir al-Abd in North Sinai Governorate. In retaliation, Egyptian police managed to kill 18 extremist militants in a raid in northern Sinai Peninsula. • On 21 July 2020, IS captured five villages in Sinai west of Bir al-Abd. • On 8 May 2022, ten soldiers and one officer were killed during
an attack at a
checkpoint at a
water pumping station in
El Qantara. • In August 2022, videos and photographs were circulated over social media, showing how the army-affiliated militias executed three shackled or wounded men in custody. The executions were extrajudicial.
Human Rights Watch called for the Egyptian authorities to immediately open a “transparent and impartial investigation” into the violations. • On November 18, 2022, dozens of IS fighters clashed with the Egyptian army on a government building in Al-Ismailia, in which resulted in killing and wounding 6 members of the Egyptian army and an airstrike on IS fighters. • On December 1, 2022, IS soldiers killed and wounded 6 members of the Egyptian police in Al-Ismailia governorate. • On December 31, 2022, two gunmen killed and wounded 15 of the Egyptian police in Al-Ismailia governorate. ==See also==