Islamic State – Sinai Province (ISSP)

Islamic State – Sinai Province (ISSP), formerly known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, is a Sunni Salafist Islamist extremist group based in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, which first appeared in 2011. The primary objective of the group is the formation of an Islamic state in Egypt under Sharia Law. The primary targets of ISSP's violence include the Egyptian military and security services, Israeli interests, and Israeli economic interests. They have carried out repeated attacks against security forces, politicians, and civilians in Egypt using small arms, improvised explosive devices, vehicle-born improvised explosive devices, and surface-to-air missiles. In November 2014, ISSP pledged its allegiance to the Islamic State (IS), and expanded its targets to include tourist sites, Western interests, Western embassies, and the media. In August 2015, ISSP claimed to have beheaded a Croatian national kidnapped and taken hostage in Cairo in July. Two months later, ISSP claimed responsibility for downing Russian airliner KGL9268 over the Sinai through an improvised explosive device killing all 224 passengers aboard. ISSP continues to conduct cross-border attacks against Israel, including firing several rockets in February, April, and October 2017. In 2022, ISSP ranked ninth of the top 20 groups with the largest number of attributed deaths at 71. In May of that year, at least eleven members of the Egyptian military had been killed in an armed attack on the Sinai Peninsula on a water-lifting station east of the Suez Canal. ISSP claimed responsibility for the attack.