Egyptian Forces Kill Dozens of Terrorists in Sinai

Sun Jul 19, 2015 13:25:55

Egyptian army soldiers have killed at least 39 suspected militants in two separate raids in two districts in the country’s restive Sinai Peninsula, said a military spokesman, Al-Alam News Network reports.

The operations were carried out on Saturday, according to an official statement by army spokesman Brigadier General Mohamed Samir, who said that in the first incident Egyptian troops had raided Sheikh Zuwaid’s southern district of Lafetat as well as Rafah's southern district of Masaid near the border with Gaza, killing 14 suspected militants.

In the second incident, he added in a separate statement, another 25 militants were killed in the Om Shaihan village and in the district of East al-Batour in central Sinai, local Ahram Online news outlet reported.

Samir further released two videos purportedly showing two "bomb-laden vehicles" being blown up by the Egyptian military.

According to the report, the army spokesman also announced the detention of four suspected militants, who he alleged were responsible for planting improvised explosive devices (IED) in northern Sinai regions.

Meanwhile, latest reports from the area said the Egyptian militants in Sinai attacked two military checkpoints killing at least five government soldiers in the latest raid targeting security forces.

However, General Samir put the death toll at three, saying four other soldiers were wounded.

According to Egypt’s MENA news agency, a militant attack near the town of Sheikh Zuweid sparked clashes between suspected ISIL-linked militants and army troops.

A report also cited a military source as saying that the two checkpoints were attacked by rocket-propelled grenades.

Military raids against Takfiri militants in Egypt have recently surged following the killing of at least 21 soldiers in Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah during two coordinated assaults on July 1 and 2 by a Sinai-based ISIL-linked group (formerly referred to as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis).

The Egyptian army announced last week that it killed 241 "terrorists," destroyed 26 vehicles and defused 16 explosive devices in North Sinai over a five-day period.

Egypt’s army has poured troops and and military hardware into the Sinai peninsula, where security forces have been fighting surging militancy since the former army chief and current President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Egypt’s first democratically-elected president Mohammed Morsi in a military coup on July 4, 2013.

A local terror group known as Sinai Province, which pledged allegiance in November 2014 to the Takfiri ISIL terror group, has been behind many of the attacks that have killed scores of Egyptian police officers, soldiers and judiciary officials as well as civilians over the past months.

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