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Gunmen kill election candidate in Sinai

This file photo shows Egyptian relatives and mourners carrying the body of a police officer during his funeral in north Sinai's provincial capital of Arish. (AFP photo)

Gunmen have killed a parliamentary candidate in Egypt’s volatile Sinai Peninsula as the North African country continues to grapple with insecurity.

According to security sources, Mostafa Abdelrahman, the secretary of the Salafi al-Nour Party, was shot dead by two gunmen riding a motorcycle in Arish, the capital of the Northern Sinai Province, outside his home on Saturday morning.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the killing.

Al-Nour garnered 28 percent of the votes in the 2011-12 parliamentary election; however, the party has since lost its popularity for supporting a deadly crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, and for announcing readiness to join the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

The first round of the 2015 parliamentary elections was held on October 18-19 in Egypt. A political alliance loyal to Sisi dominated the vote that saw a low turnout. The second round is scheduled for November 22-23.

In this Sunday, April 12, 2015 photo, Egyptians gather at the scene following a bombing that struck a main police station in Arish, Egypt. (AP photo)

 

Arish residents say the militants in the city have threatened candidates in the parliamentary elections.

Meanwhile, in a separate incident on Saturday, three police officers were killed and eight wounded in a bomb attack in Arish.

The Egyptian military has been engaged in operations to quell acts of terrorism and militancy in the Sinai Peninsula. It views the volatile region as a sanctuary for terrorists.

The militant group Velayat Sinai, previously known as Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks in Sinai. Last November, the group pledged allegiance to the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group, which is mainly operating in Iraq and Syria.


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