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EGYPT-SINAI-UNREST
Egypt army says 52 suspected jihadists killed in Sinai
CAIRO, Oct 8, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Egyptian security forces pressing a
campaign against Islamist militants have killed 52 suspected jihadists in the
Sinai Peninsula in operations in which three soldiers also died, the army
said Monday.
The military launched a sweeping operation in February focused on the Sinai
in eastern Egypt aimed at wiping out jihadists, including from the Islamic
State (IS) group, who have been waging a bloody insurgency.
On Monday, the military said that 53 “takfiris” or Sunni Muslim extremists
were killed in two separate operations by security forces in the restive
peninsula.
Three members of the armed forces were also killed in these operations, it
said in a statement, without stating when they took place.
The military has regularly reported operations in the Sinai since it
launched the campaign.
According to official figures, a total of more than 350 suspected jihadists
and at least 30 soldiers have been killed in the “Sinai 2018” campaign.
Security sources said last week that local IS leader Abu Hamza al-Maqdisi
had been killed in an air raid on the Sinai. The jihadist group confirmed his
death.
Jihadists have killed hundreds of police officers and soldiers in the Sinai
since the army ousted Egypt’s Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
BSS/AFP/MRI/1732 hrs