The Ministry of the Interior reported that militants killed 25 police conscripts in a daylight attack in northern Sinai. The killings took place as the off-duty policemen were being transported on two buses near Rafah, along the border with Gaza. The gunmen forced the buses to stop, then forced the unarmed policemen out of the vehicles before executing them, according to an anonymous security official. The attack raised fears of increased violence in Sinai, and some analysts viewed the violence as a warning to police forces and Ministry of the Interior. The attack was widely condemned by actors across Egyptian politics and society, and it came the day after more than 30 prisoners were killed in a transport van outside of a prison in Cairo.
No individual or group immediately claimed responsibility for the violence in Sinai, though the Ministry of the Interior later claimed in September that a suspect had confessed to the crime.