A string of coordinated attacks on military checkpoints and a police station in North Sinai’s Sheikh Zuweid is “moving in the same direction” as that of Islamic State fighters, an analyst said. Zack Gold, a visiting fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies, described Wednesday’s attack as a “major development” and a possible attempt by the Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis militant group to drag Egypt’s military to “urban warfare” rather than an earlier “hit-and-run” style of attacks. Ansar claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement released on twitter accounts affiliated with the group. The group claimed it has “gained full control” over several locations in its statement, released amid clashes between security forces and militants following the attacks. The group changed its name to Sinai Province last November, after pledging allegiance to Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq. “It seemed from the retreat they [Ansar] were trying to hold the city,” Gold told Aswat Masriya in a Skype interview on Thursday. The militant attacks had aimed to besiege the Sheikh Zuweid town, Reuters cited security sources as saying. Army spokesman Mohamed Samir stressed in a phone interview with…
