Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab extended a state of emergency yesterday in parts of North Sinai by another three months, the Al-Ahram website reported.

The Egyptian army has been acting intensively in Sinai in recent months to eradicate terror cells scattered throughout the peninsula. The operation began on October, after more than 60 military personnel were killed or injured in a car bomb attack.

Following the attack and suspected involvement by terrorists in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, the Egyptian government created a buffer zone along its border with Gaza.

Meanwhile, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror group published photos (Arabic link) of its gunmen training with weapons in the Sinai Peninsula, which borders Israel. The photos were published in a Twitter account associated with ISIS. The Sinai branch of ISIS also distributed a video in which it threatens to perform new terror attacks against the Egyptian army.

ISIS’s training of the Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis terrorist group was first reported in September. Israeli intelligence believes that Hamas worked with Ansar to launch a number of rockets against Israel last summer. Ansar beheaded a number of men in September and accused one of them of working for the Mossad.

[Photo: Conflict Studies / YouTube ]