The Egyptian military announced on Friday that it had killed seven suspected jihadists during a raid on the Sinai, an insurgent eastern Egyptian peninsula. " The armed forces carried out a targeted operation which caused the seven takfiris dead , "the military said in a statement, using a term used by Egyptian authorities to refer to jihadists.
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Explosive devices, weapons, ammunition and walkie-talkies were found there, the statement said. Egyptian security forces have been working for years to contain the insurgency in northern Sinai, which includes a local group affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) organization. The insurgency intensified after the army’s ouster in 2013 of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi following major protests.
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The army launched in February 2018 a vast " anti-terrorist " operation in the region but also in parts of the western desert, between the Nile Valley and the border with Libya. Since its launch, more than 930 suspected jihadists and dozens of soldiers have been killed, according to official figures. However, no verified independent source report is available and the region is largely forbidden to journalists.
