Egypt's president cuts short Ethiopia trip after Sinai attacks

Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi decided Friday to cut short his participation in the African Union Summit held in Ethiopia, official MENA news agency reported.

Sisi left on Thursday for Ethiopia to attend the 24th African Union Summit, where he planned to stay for three days and hold talks with African leaders on ways of bolstering bilateral relations and coordinating efforts to serve key issues on the summit agenda.

However, Sisi decided to cut short the trip after a series of deadly attacks targeting the security forces in Egypt's restive Sinai peninsula on Thursday, which left at least 26 security men dead and dozens wounded.

Militants attacked on Thursday some security premises belonging to the Egyptian Armed Forces and security apparatuses in Arish city, using some car-bombs and mortar shells, according to Egypt's Military spokesman Mohamed Samir.

Separate attacks in border city of Rafah and the canal city of Suez also killed and injured some security men on Thursday.

Reports said a series of tweets from a Twitter account named Sinai Province claimed responsibility for those attacks.

Last year, Egypt's most active militant group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis changed its name to Sinai Province after swearing allegiance to the Islamic State (IS).

Egypt has recently extended a curfew in many parts of North Sinai for another three months due to the unstable security conditions in the restive peninsula and the recurrent terrorist attacks targeting security men and premises.

Attacks on security forces mounted in Sinai and other parts of the country since the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, who was supported by the Muslim Brotherhood, in July 2013 and the following crackdown on his supporters that left about 1,000 killed and thousands more arrested.

The attacks targeting security forces have left hundreds killed. Most of the attacks were claimed by al-Qaida-inspired Sinai Province. Endit