Although Egypt is fighting an IS group populated Sinai insurgency in the sparsely spared the Peninsula, conducted by the IS kidnappings horrific in Syria, Iraq and Libya. known as Ansar Beit al Formerly Maqdis, the group changed its name when it pledged allegiance to the IS in November. Last December, the jihadists claimed they killed a US citizen working for petro- leum company Apache, also west ofCairo. That attack was at first treated asa deadly carjacking by police.