ISMAILIA, Egypt: Egypt’s army said yesterday more than 100 militants and 17 soldiers were killed in simultaneous attacks on military checkpoints in North Sinai, in the most sustained fighting of its kind in years in the restive province.
After a day of fighting, which involved F-16 jets and Apache helicopters, the army said it would not stop its operations until it had cleared the area of all “terrorist concentrations”.
Islamic State’s Egyptian affiliate, Sinai Province, had claimed responsibility, saying it attacked more than 15 security sites and carried out three suicide bombings.
The militants’ assault, a significant escalation in violence in the peninsula that lies between Israel, the Gaza Strip and the Suez Canal, was the second high-profile attack in Egypt this week. On Monday, a bomb killed the prosecutor-general in Cairo.
It raised questions about the government’s ability to contain an insurgency that has already killed hundreds of police and soldiers.
The insurgents want to topple the Cairo government and have stepped up their campaign since 2013, when then-army chief Abdel Fattah Al Sisi removed President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood after mass protests against his rule.
REUTERS
