Egypt cuts curfew hours in parts of North Sinai

CAIRO - Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi ordered the night curfew in Sinai Peninsula to be cut by three hours, state-run al-Ahram daily reported on Tuesday.

"The curfew will be cut by three hours. It will start at 7:00 pm instead of 5:00 pm until 6:00 am instead of 7:00 am" spokesman of the Egyptian president Ambassador Alaa Youssif was quoted by the daily as saying.

On October 25, Egypt announced a three-month curfew and a state of emergency in some parts of North Sinai following a blast targeted a big military checkpoint in North Sinai's Sheikh Zuweid city, leaving more than 30 soldiers killed and tens of others injured.

The decision came after al-Sisi's meeting with leaders of North Sinai earlier on Tuesday, Yossif pointed out, adding that such a decision is meant to relieve the sufferings faced by the North Sinai residents.

Egypt has been witnessing unstable political conditions since Islamist President Mohamed Morsi's removal by the military in July 2013 following mass protests against his one-year rule and the following massive security crackdown on his loyalists that left nearly 1,000 killed and thousands more arrested.

Since then, terrorist activities have escalated in Egypt and anti-government attacks have extended from Sinai to the capital Cairo and other provinces across the country, with the Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (ABM) group claiming responsibility for most of them.

The ABM has recently announced its allegiance to the regional Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq and changed its name to "Sinai State" as one of the so-called states under IS leader Abu Bakr al- Baghdadi.