Security forces launch fierce campaign against militants

CAIRO – 10 July 2017: Egypt witnessed a series of aggressions and security counterattacks in the last two days, leaving dozens of innocent causalities. The beginning was on Friday, when a bloody attack targeted two checkpoints of the Egyptian army in El Arish, North Sinai.

Two vehicles loaded with explosives penetrated two army ambushes, killing and injuring 26 army officers and soldiers. The ISIS-affiliated militant group claimed its responsibility for the attack.

In response to the terror attack, the Egyptian army launched intensive airstrikes against terrorist hotbeds in Rafah City, leaving more than 40 deaths among the militants. The attack destroyed six four-wheel vehicles, which are believed to have been used in committing terror acts, according to official military spokesperson Tamer el-Refaay.

He added that Egyptian law enforcement forces affiliated to Third Field Army imposed a security cordon around the place of aggression and intensified security measures in the region in an attempt to reach the perpetrators of the terror act.

Moreover, the Interior Ministry said in a statement on Saturday that 14 militants were killed in Ismailia in a fire exchange with a number of militants suspected to be involved in the recent aggressions in North Sinai targeting police and armed forces.

Five of the killed militants had been wanted for justice for supporting the ideology of terrorist groups, the Interior Ministry said, noting that the other nine were unidentified. The police had also found weapons, ammunition and military uniforms in the possession of the militants.

Since 2013, state security forces, represented by both the army and the police, have been engaged in violent clashes with an Islamist insurgency in parts of the North Sinai governorate.

The Islamist insurgency has killed hundreds of Egyptian security forces, predominately in North Sinai. The army also announced it has killed hundreds of militants.