Al-Qaeda supporters in the Sinai
Al-Qaeda supporters in the SinaiReuters

The Al-Qaeda-inspired terrorist group Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis on Sunday claimed responsibility for two suicide bombings in Sinai on Friday that left three dead, reports Daily News Egypt.

In a statement released to jihadi websites, the group declared, “We will not rest until we achieve retribution for the blood and honor of the Muslims.”

The first bombing took place early Friday morning at a joint-security checkpoint in Al-Tur City, in south Sinai, near the resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh. The explosion killed both the bomber and a conscript, and injured three policemen and one soldier, according to the Ministry of Interior.

Another suicide bombing was reported on Al-Tur road as a bus was driving by. The blast killed the suicide bomber and injured four factory workers, the latter being among the passengers of the bus, the Ministry of Interior said, according to Daily News Egypt.

The Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis has already claimed a series of terrorist attacks in Egypt, including the assassination of a top Egyptian police general, who was gunned down as he left his home in a west Cairo neighborhood, and a bus bombing on a tour bus filled with South Korean tourists in the Sinai. The group had previously claimed a car bombing which killed five people outside Cairo police headquarters in January and the gunning down of six Egyptian soldiers in February. 

Several months ago, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis denounced the Egyptian army as “an enemy of Allah” because of its crackdown on Sinai terrorists and called for “jihad” against it.

Egypt’s interim government says there is a direct link between the Muslim Brotherhood and Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, and on this basis blacklisted the Brotherhood as a terror organization.

The group was recently blacklisted by the United States as a terrorist organization, and in response threatened to carry out revenge attacks on the United States and harm its interests in Egypt,