Alwaght-ISIS terrorist group has claimed responsibility for a missile attack on an Egyptian navy frigate off North Sinai in the Mediterranean.
In a Thursday statement reported by the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors terrorism, Wilayat al Sinai, the ISIS affiliate in Egypt said it had fired a “guided missile” at the army boat which was sailing on the waters off Egypt’s restive Sinai Peninsula.
It also released three images showing the moment when an apparent guided anti-tank missile was striking the Egyptian navy boat.
Earlier in the day, the Egyptian army announced that one of its frigates had been attacked and set ablaze during clashes with the militants operating in Sinai.
No casualties were reported due to the incident. Other navy boats near the site of the attack reportedly helped rescue the burning ship’s crew.
Since the ouster of the former Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, in a 2013 military coup, the North African state, particularly the Sinai Peninsula, has witnessed a sharp rise in the number of terror attacks targeting members of security forces.
Terrorists from the Wilaya alSinai terror group, previously known as Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, have claimed responsibility for most of the attacks in Sinai Peninsula. Last November, the group pledged allegiance to the ISIS terrorist group, which is now wreaking havoc mainly in Iraq, Syria and Libya.