Cairo-ISIS terrorist groups ambushed checkpoints in the calm northern part of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on Saturday, killing at least five troops from security forces, officials said.
At least six other troops were injured in an attack in the town of Sheikh’s Wide and taken to a military hospital in the Mediterranean city of El Arish, they said.
Guards killed three terrorists in a shootout and the area was strengthened, officials added, saying they were anonymous as they were not authorized to explain to the media.
Egypt has been fighting terrorists in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula for many years. Violence and instability intensified after Mohamed Morsi, elected in 2013 but a divisive Islamist president, was militarily expelled in a national protest against his short rule. did.
Terrorists carried out numerous attacks, primarily targeting security forces, minority Christians, and those who accused them of cooperating with the military and police.
The pace of ISIS attacks in Sinai’s main theater and elsewhere has been modest since February 2018, when the military began large-scale operations in parts of the Sinai and Nile Delta and in the desert along the Libyan border. It’s getting slower.
The fight against terrorists on the Sinai Peninsula is largely hidden from the public eye, with journalists, non-residents and outside observers locked out of the area. Conflicts have also taken place away from tourist destinations on the southern tip of the peninsula.
By Ashraf Sweilam