ISIS affiliate in Sinai claims execution of Egyptian solider, beheading of captive

Egyptian group that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State releases video of gruesome killings.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, REUTERS
The Egyptian soldier Islamists in Sinai claim they killed (photo credit: screenshot)
The Egyptian soldier Islamists in Sinai claim they killed
(photo credit: screenshot)
Islamic State-affiliated jihadists in the volatile Sinai Peninsula have claimed the graphic killings of an Egyptian solider and another captive.
According to AFP, the group Sinai Province uploaded a video overnight between Friday and Saturday that allegedy shows the fatal shooting of the solider and the beheading of the other man.
In the video, a man addressing the camera says he is an Egyptian solider who was captured on April 2 by the group formerly called Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis during an attack on a military outpost in the northern Sinai.
After the soldier speaks, a masked jihdai from the group -- that changed its name after pledging allegiance to the extremist Islamic State group -- is seen shooting him in the head, according to AFP.
A day after the ambush on April 2, the group claimed responsibility for attacks on military checkpoints which killed 15 soldiers and two civilians in Sinai.
Sinai Province said in a statement its fighters used rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons in the attacks, which highlighted security challenges facing Egypt despite one of the toughest crackdowns on militancy in its history.
The group said the operations killed or wounded dozens of people.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has repeatedly called on Arab and Western states to confront Islamist groups, which have flourished in the region since the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings toppled autocratic states which contained them.
Sinai-based terrorists have killed hundreds of soldiers and police since then-army chief Sisi toppled Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.