Egypt\'s Shura Council to hold conference to discuss attack

Egyptian military tanks deployed in the northern Sinai town of Arish Egypt\'s dissolved Shura Council will hold a press conference on Saturday to discuss ways to combat escalating violence in the country. The conference is due to begin at 2pm at the media centre in Rabaa el-Adeweya, Cairo.
The conference comes following an Israeli attack in Sinai on Friday evening.
An Egyptian militant group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, confirmed on Saturday that four of its members belonging to Sinai tribes had been killed by Israeli drones on Friday.
However, Egypt\'s military denied on Friday that there had been any Israeli strikes inside Egyptian territory.
The group accused the Egyptian army of coordinating the attack with Israel, and threatened more strikes against the Jewish state.
There have been conflicting reports about the source of the attack.
Officials told AFP the strike came from the Egyptian military, as part of their campaign to curtail a surge in violence and rein in militant activity in the lawless Sinai.
Witnesses said Egyptian military helicopters hovered above the site after the blasts.
On Friday, the Egyptian military said two explosions were heard in the Sinai peninsula, close to the border with Israel, and that it would investigate their cause.
\"There is no truth whatsoever to any Israeli strikes inside Egyptian territory and the claim that there is Egyptian and Israeli coordination on the matter is utterly baseless,\" military spokesman Colonel Ahmed Aly said in a statement on Friday.
Israel\'s military on Thursday ordered the cancellation of all flights in and out of the Red Sea resort of Eilat, which borders Egypt, due to what is said was a security threat.
Last month, Israel deployed a battery of its Iron Dome missile defence system near Eilat, which has been a target of attacks in the past.
In April the town was struck by rocket fire from the Sinai, and debris from a rocket that hit northern Eilat on July 4 was found days later.
Egypt\'s army is currently engaged in an offensive in Sinai to curtail a surge in violence since Islamist president Mohamed Morsi was ousted on July 3 in a military-led coup.