In a brazen attack, at least 22 Egyptian soldiers were killed when militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades attacked a military checkpoint in southern Egypt, bordering libya and Sudan.
Militants on Saturday attacked the checkpoint in Al-Wadi Al-Gedid governorate, more than 500 kilometers from here, killing 21 border guards on the spot, said Army Spokesman Mohamed Samir. One of the wounded troops dies on Sunday at a hospital.
The border guards were killed during an exchange of fire with the unknown gunmen which lead to an explosion in the checkpoint’s ammunition storage, Samir said, adding forces later seized and defused two car bombs before they exploded.
Al-Wadi Al-Gedid is a large governorate that borders both libya and Sudan. Samir also said that some “terrorists” were killed during the exchange of fire. The attackers, armed with rocket-propelled grenades, took the soldiers by surprise, a military source told the state-run news agency MENA.