Policeman killed, 7 wounded in Egypt's Sinai blast

An Egyptian detective was killed and seven other policemen were injured on Wednesday in a blast that targeted a police armored vehicle in Arish city of North Sinai Sinai province bordering Gaza Strip and Israel, a security source told Xinhua.

"Colonel Ahmed al-Sayyid, senior detective at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), died out of injury at Arish Military Hospital after he got a leg amputated," the source added, expecting the perpetrators to belong to the Sinai-based, al-Qaida-inspired Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (ABM) militant group.

The attack comes one day after an Egyptian court handed death sentences to nine extremists over charges of adopting extremists ideologies, targeting security men and having links with the Islamic State (IS) regional militant group.

The ABM pledged allegiance with the IS group a few months ago and changed its name to "Sinai State" as a Sinai branch for the regional group, vowing loyalty to IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Egypt has been witnessing a rising wave of terrorism since the military overthrew former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, following mass protests against his controversial one-year rule.

The ensuing security crackdown on his supporters and the firm dispersal of their sit-ins in mid-August 2013 left almost 1,000 dead and thousands in custody.

Since then, extremist self-proclaimed Islamists, believed to be among Morsi's supporters, launched nationwide anti-establishment terrorist attacks targeting police and military forces and their facilities, particularly in Sinai, leading to the death of hundreds. The ABM claimed responsibility for most of the attacks

Cairo's Criminal Court handed Morsi and over 100 others death sentences last week over their role in a mass jailbreak during the 2011 uprising which toppled ex-president Hosni Mubarak. A few hours later, unknown militants assassinated three judges in Sinai.

The same court sentenced 16 leading members of Morsi's currently-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group to death over an espionage case. The death verdicts can still be appealed.

Morsi and his supporters' cases have been sent to the Mufti for his non-binding Islamic legal opinion regarding their execution. Endit