CAIRO — Eleven
Egyptian soldiers were killed on Saturday attempting to thwart a “terrorist”
attack on the Suez Canal zone abutting the Sinai Peninsula, a hotbed of
extremist activity, the army said.
اضافة اعلان
It was the
heaviest loss the army had suffered in years in its long-running campaign in
and around the Sinai against militants loyal to Daesh.
Five soldiers were
also wounded in the firefight on the eastern, Sinai bank of the canal, the army
said, adding that security forces “are continuing to chase the terrorists and
surround them in an isolated area of the Sinai”.
Egypt’s Sinai
Peninsula has been gripped by an armed insurgency for more than a decade, which
peaked after the ouster of late Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in 2013.
In February 2018,
the army and police launched a nationwide operation against militants focused
on North Sinai.
More than a
thousand suspected militants and dozens of security personnel have been killed
since the start of operations, according to official figures.
In November, Egypt
agreed with Israel to boost its troop numbers around the border town of Rafah
in order to quell Daesh militants.
In August, the
army said 13 militants had been killed and nine of its soldiers were “killed or
wounded” during clashed in Sinai, without indicating when the fighting had
taken place.
In recent years,
pipelines carrying Egyptian oil and gas to neighboring Israel and Jordan have
been the primary focus of insurgent attacks.
Read more Region and World
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
