Islamic Militants Slaughter 25 Policemen

Militants in Egypt yesterday killed 25 policemen execution-style in an ambush in the Sinai Peninsula, as the chaos in the country continued. In Cairo, fears are growing over a 17-year-old Irish boy and his three sisters who were arrested in the wake of a protest at a mosque, after another sister suggested that the teenager could have been 'beaten to hell' at the Tora prison.

The volatile situation could deteriorate further as it emerged that former president Hosni Mubarak, driven out of office by a vast wave of street protests in 2011, could be released from prison as early as this week. The attack on police apparently took place this morning as two minibuses carrying off-duty officers were driving through a village near the border town of Rafah.

The suspected militants forced the two vehicles to stop, ordered the policemen out and forced them to lie on the ground before they shot them to death, according to security officials.