PM: ‘Egypt’s stability key to region, world’

Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab, who is currently on a three-day visit to Italy, said Thursday that his country’s stability is indispensable for wider stability in the region and the world after Islamist militants claimed another attack in the restive Sinai Peninsula.

“Egypt’s stability is key to the Middle East, Europe, and the whole World,” Mahlab was quoted as saying by state news agency MENA.

Mahlab is expected to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOUs) on prospective energy deals with Italy.

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group’s Egyptian affiliate claimed responsibility on Thursday for a bombing that the army said killed four soldiers near Rafah, a town on the border with the Gaza Strip.

Egypt is battling an increasingly brazen insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula that has killed hundreds of police officers and soldiers since the army toppled Islamist President Mohammed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.

The militant group Sinai Province, which has pledged allegiance to ISIS, said in a statement posted on Twitter that it had planted the bomb on the road between Rafah and the town of Sheikh Zuweid.

Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the statement.

The bomb went off when an armored military vehicle was combing an area around the border village of el-Mahdiya, close to the town of Rafah, which borders Gaza Strip, according to the Egyptian military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Samir.

In a statement on his official Facebook page, Samir said the explosion killed one officer and three soldiers and also wounded three troops.

(With Reuters and AP)