Ismailiya Criminal Court has sentenced to death on Tuesday 14 Islamists belonging to the Al-Tawhid we Al-Jihad organisation convicted of killing 5 police and military officers and one civilian during several attacks in June-July 2011 on an Al-Arish city police station and a Bank of Alexandria branch in northern Sinai.
Twenty five individuals were charged in the case, and thirteen of them are being tried in absentee.
The charges also included attempting to murder 12 other security guards in the vicinity of the police station and the bank.
The verdict comes amid a crackdown by security forces on 'growing lawlessness' in the Sinai after the killing of 16 Egyptian border police on 5 August, that is being blamed on Islamist militants who allegedly hijacked military tanks to attack the Israeli border.
