Armed assailants in Sinai hijacked a police car Wednesday evening, the Anadolu news agency has reported.

According to the Turkish news agency, the car was taken after fire was exchanged between the assailants and police forces.

The attack took place in the South Sinai city of Abu Redis.

Sinai has suffered a security crisis as hardline Islamist militant groups filled a vacuum left by the collapse of state control in North Sinai during the 2011 uprising that overthrew former president Hosni Mubarak.

The state launched in August a concerted effort to re-establish control following an attack in which 16 Egyptian border police were killed. A gun attack 3 November in which three policemen died underlined the challenge still facing the authorities in returning security to Sinai.

https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/61717.aspx