6 militants, 2 Egyptian soldiers killed in Sinai: Army
At least six militants and two Egyptian soldiers have been killed during a sweeping operation against the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in the Sinai Peninsula.
Tamer Rifai, a spokesman for the Egyptian army, said in a statement on Sunday that the six militants were killed last week in an exchange of fire in the north of Sinai in a military raid against a "very dangerous terrorist cell." An officer and a soldier were also killed and two other troops were wounded, he added.
The army detained over 500 "wanted criminals" and prevented 169 people of various nationalities from infiltrating across the western border with Libya during the same period.
The military has boosted its operations on the border, repeatedly expressing concern about militants crossing the frontier.
Libya has been wracked by chaos since the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi, with rival authorities and militias battling for the control of the oil-rich country.
In May 2017, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said setbacks by Daesh in Syria were driving its terrorists to try to relocate to Libya and Sinai.
The army launched the latest campaign on February 9 after Sisi gave it a three-month deadline to crush Daesh in Sinai. According to official figures, more than 100 militants and at least 22 soldiers have been killed in less than two months
In November, Sisi issued an ultimatum to the army to crush the militants after suspected Daesh gunmen massacred more than 300 worshippers at a Sinai mosque associated with Sufi Muslim mystics.
Sisi later said the army would employ “absolute force” in a bid to eliminate terrorism in Sinai.
The group has killed hundreds of soldiers, policemen and civilians, mainly in its North Sinai stronghold but also elsewhere in Egypt.
The Sinai Peninsula has been under a state of emergency since October 2014, after a deadly terrorist attack left 33 Egyptian soldiers dead.
Over the past few years, terrorists have been carrying out anti-government activities and fatal attacks, taking advantage of the turmoil in Egypt that erupted after the country’s first democratically-elected president, Mohamed Morsi, was ousted in a military coup in July 2013.
The Velayat Sinai group, which is affiliated with Daesh, has claimed responsibility for most of the assaults. The group later expanded its attacks to target members of Egypt’s Coptic Christian community as well as foreigners visiting the country, prompting Cairo to widen a controversial crackdown, which critics say has mostly targeted dissidents.
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