Counter-terrorism operation in Egypt: 28 jihadists killed, 126 arrests

AFP

AFP

Monday, 12 February, 2018 04:16

UPDATE
Monday, 12 February, 2018 04:16

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CAIRO, Egypt | Twenty-eight jihadists were killed and 126 others arrested in the north and centre of the peninsula, egyptian Sinai (north-east) since the launch on Friday of a vast anti-terror operation, announced the army on Monday.

Called “Sinai 2018”, the military campaign launched a month and a half of the presidential election mobilizes, in particular aviation and the navy, in and around the Sinai, the region where the local branch of the group islamic State (ARS) carries out regular deadly attacks.

The regions of the Nile delta (north) and the western desert border of Libya are also involved.

The operation resulted in “the elimination of twelve elements takfiristes armed during an exchange of fire with security forces who were conducting a raid,” it said in a press release the spokesman of the army’s Tamer el-Refaï.

This assessment is in addition to the 16 deaths announced the day before.

In total, 126 jihadists were also arrested and an equal number of their “dens” destroyed, according to the two press releases sent so far by the army.

Several vehicles and warehouses have also been referred to.

At the end of November, president Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, the only serious candidate in the election of march 26, was given three months to his chief of staff and his minister of the Interior, to restore security and stability to Sinai.

This injunction had been launched a few days after an attack against a mosque in the north of the peninsula, which had killed more than 300. The attack, the deadliest in the recent history of Egypt, has not been claimed.