At least 43 terrorists have been killed and dozens others injured as a military operation launched against armed groups in Sinai entered its fourth day.
According to the Armed Forces spokesperson, 43 extremists were killed and more than 100 weapon depots, vehicles, explosives, and tunnels were discovered and destroyed as of 18 October 2016.
The military operation has also seen the martyrdom of six Egyptian soldiers. It is unclear whether any other soldiers were injured.
The Armed Forces spokesperson stressed that Egypt’s military will not rest until terrorists are completely defeated.
The latest military operation was launched after 12 Egyptian soldiers and 18 militants were killed in an attack on a military outpost in central Sinai. Most of the soldiers killed were conscripts in their early twenties.
The operation involves both the use of airstrikes and ground attacks on terrorist hideouts, said the Armed Forces spokesperson.
Wilayat Sinai (or Ansar Bait Al-Maqdis), which announced allegiance to ISIS in 2014, has been responsible for the majority of terror attacks in Egypt’s Sinai since the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
Egypt’s military, in cooperation with local tribes, has waged a war against militancy in North Sinai, killing hundreds of suspected terrorists. An estimated 2100 people were killed in North Sinai in 2015, including roughly 1800 described by the military as “terrorists,” 150 civilians, 40 police officers and conscripts, and 140 military personnel.
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