Former Egyptian army official shot dead in Sinai

A retired Egyptian colonel was shot dead on Sunday in the northern Sinai Peninsula, army sources said.

Egyptian army sources told Ma'an that Rida Muhammad Ramzi Hamid was shot dead by "six gunmen" in el-Arish.

The sources said the gunmen were likely affiliated to Wahhabi militant groups.

Egyptian armed forces launched large scale military action against militants in the Sinai Peninsula in September, in what officials described as the largest mobilization of force in the area since the 1973 war with Israel. 

The action comes in the wake of rising instability and almost daily attacks in the region since the army's ouster of president Mohamed Morsi, as groups conduct a campaign against state institutions and the military.