IS affiliate claims responsibility for Egypt's Sinai attacks (Third Lead)

Islamic State-affiliated Wilayat Sina (Sinai Province) jihadi group claimed responsibility for a series of suicide attacks and bombings on Wednesday against several security checkpoints in the Egypt's northern Sinai Peninsula, leaving dozens dead or wounded.

"The caliphate lions attacked simultaneously over 15 positions of the apostate army," Wilayat Sina said in a statement on the internet.

A military statement confirmed five coordinated attacks on security checkpoints and a police station on Wednesday morning that left several soldiers dead or wounded in the northern Sinai Peninsula, Efe news agency reported.

Earlier on Wednesday, Egyptian army spokesman Mohamed Samir said that 10 soldiers were killed or wounded, while another security official told Efe that 11 were killed and 20 were wounded.

The toll remained uncertain, as clashes between security forces and radical militants in northern Sinai were continued.

The security official detailed that a suicide car bomb exploded at a checkpoint in Sheikh Zuweid, while a police station was hit in Arish, the provincial capital of North Sinai, along with three other security posts.

Egyptian authorities declared the highest alert in government and security facilities as well as hospitals, and dozens of ambulances were sent to the conflict zone.

Wednesday's series of attacks came two days after the assassination of Egyptian prosecutor general Hisham Barakat in Cairo, while other minor attacks were reported in the past 24 hours around the capital.