LATEST: Iraq — At Least 69 Killed in Saturday Bombings

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Egyptian officials said on Friday that an Israeli drone fired a missile on insurgents in the Sinai Peninsula, killing four of them and destroying a rocket launcher.

Israeli authorities have yet to acknowledge the assault, which would be the first by Israeli forces on Egyptian soil since the 1979 peace treaty between the two countries, and an Egyptian army spokesman later denied any attack or Egyptian-Israeli co-ordination.

Under the 1979 Camp David accords, Israel is prohibited from carrying out military operations on Egyptian territory. Any Israeli attack would have to be planned with the Egyptian security forces.

If confirmed, the strike is a response to rising violence in the Peninsula, between the Suez Canal and Israel, with attacks on security forces and oil pipelines by Islamist and Bedouin groups.

The Egyptian military tried to counter criticism on Friday with a statement that it had killed 60 insurgents, wounded 43, and arrested 103 suspects between July 5 and August 4.


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Iraq: At Least 69 Killed in Baghdad Bombings

At least 69 people have been killed in a wave of car bombings, mainly targeting cafes and markets around the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

The death toll is the highest since July 20, when attacks on two prisons near Baghdad and other violence left 71 dead.

Police said the deadliest of Saturday’s attacks took place when a suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden car into a residential area in the town of Tuz Khormato, about 200 kilometers (130 miles) north of Baghdad, killing eight people and wounding dozens.

Other deadly attacks took place elsewhere in Baghdad, in the holy city of Karbala, in Nasiriyah in southern Iraq, and in Kirkuk in the north.

The casualties follow the deadly month in Iraq since June 2008, with more than 1000 people slain.

Egypt: Insurgents Say 4 Fighters Killed in Israeli Attack in Sinai

The Ansar Jerusalem (Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis) insurgent faction has said that four of its fighters were killed in an Israeli attack in the Sinai Peninsula on Friday.

The group said in a statement posted on a website that an Israeli drone crossed into Egyptian airspace and killed the fighters as they were preparing a cross-border rocket strike into Israel: “Our heroes became martyrs during their jihadi duties against the Jews in a rocket attack on occupied lands.”

Ansar Jerusalem said the leader of the rocket-launch team escaped,

Egyptian security officials — Reuters claims five sources — had said four insurgents were slain by the drone, which struck three kilometers (2 miles) west of the Israeli border and south of the city of Rafah, which is split between Egypt and Gaza.

One source said the Israeli aircraft had observed the militants preparing three rocket launch pads to hit Israel. It launched a missile, killing two men, then killed another pair who stepped up to the pads after the first strike.

The Egyptian military later denied the strike but gave no other details about the claimed killings.

Ansar Jerusalem has previously fired rockets into Israel, and it claimed responsibility for a 2012 shootout along the Israeli-Egyptian border in which three militants and an Israeli soldier were killed.

Egypt: 10,000s of Morsi Supporters Rally on Friday

Supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsi held large rallies on Friday and maintained sit-ins despite warnings from the interim Government that gatherings would be dispersed.

The marches from mosques around Cairo to the sit-ins at Rabaa El-Adewaya and Nahda Squares began after Friday afternoon prayers.

“The Egyptian people are continuing, and the days will only increase their determination to persist in their peaceful struggle until the country returns to the democratic path, until the coup is completely ended,” the Anti-Coup Alliance said in a statement.

Police said 28 pro-Morsi protesters and one police officer were injured when clashes broke out between several hundred demonstrators and security forces as crowds gathered outside the security directorate in Fayoum.

In Gharbiya Province in the Nile Delta, four people were injured in fights between pro-Morsi protesters and residents near an army base. Thirteen Morsi supporters were arrested.