Egypt declares emergency in northern Sinai
AL-ARISH - A coordinated assault on an army checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula killed 30 Egyptian troops on Friday, making it the deadliest single attack in decades on the military, which has been struggling to stem a wave of violence by Islamic extremists since the overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
Egypt's National Defense Council declared a three-month state of emergency in areas near borders with Israel and the Gaza Strip in the northern part of Sinai Peninsula and ordered a three-hour curfew starting Saturday. State TV also announced closure of the Rafah crossing, Gaza's only non-Israeli passage to outside world.
