TEHRAN - Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi on Friday condemned a terrorist blast in Egypt’s northeastern Sinai Peninsula which left 10 people killed, expressing sympathy with the families of the victims.

“The fleeing of terrorists after their defeats in Iraq and Syria is a serious threat to the world and any kind of leniency or instrumental use of them will cause new wave of blind terrorism in various parts of the world,” Qassemi warned.

A suicide bomb attack on an army checkpoint in Sinai on Friday left 10 Egyptian soldiers dead and at least 20 ones wounded.

The attack started when a suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into the checkpoint at a military compound in the southern Rafah village of el-Barth, followed by heavy gunfire from dozens of masked fighters on foot, Aljazeera reported.

Colonel Ahmed el-Mansi, a high ranking special forces officer, was among the dead.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

According to Tamer el-Rifai, the Egyptian Army’s official spokesperson, the army foiled attacks targeting a number of other checkpoints in southern Rafah and that during the battle 40 militants were killed.

NA/PA