Egypt’s army said yesterday that more than 100 militants and 17 soldiers were killed in simultaneous attacks on military checkpoints in North Sinai, in the most sustained fighting of its kind in years in the restive province.
After a day of fighting, which involved F-16 jets and Apache helicopters, the army said it would not stop its operations until it had cleared the area of all “terrorist concentrations”.
Islamic State’s Egyptian affiliate, Sinai Province, had claimed responsibility, saying it attacked more than 15 security sites and carried out three suicide bombings.
The militants’ assault, a significant escalation in violence in the peninsula that lies between Israel, the Gaza Strip and the Suez Canal, was the second high-profile attack in Egypt this week. On Monday, a bomb killed the prosecutor-general in Cairo.
It raised questions about the government’s ability to contain an insurgency that has already killed hundreds of police and soldiers.
The insurgents want to topple the Cairo government and have stepped up their campaign since 2013, when then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi removed President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood after mass protests against his rule.
Gen Sisi, who regards the Brotherhood as a threat to national security, has since overseen a harsh crackdown on Islamists.
An army statement said the fighting had been concentrated in the towns of Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah and that the militants used car bombs and various weapons.
They said of the 17 soldiers dead, four were officers. Thirteen more soldiers were wounded. Earlier security sources had given different figures, which included soldiers, police, militants and civilians.
Security sources said the militants had planned to lay siege to the town of Sheikh Zuweid. “But we have dealt with them and broke the siege,” one of the sources said. Earlier security sources said militants had surrounded a police station in Sheikh Zuweid and had planted bombs around it to prevent forces from leaving.
The militants also planted bombs along a road between Sheikh Zuweid and al-Zuhour army camp and seized two armoured vehicles, weapons and ammunition, the sources said.
“We are not allowed to leave our homes. Clashes are ongoing. A short while ago I saw five Land Cruisers with masked gunmen waving black flags,“ said Suleiman al-Sayed (49), a Sheikh Zuweid resident.
Witnesses and security sources also reported hearing two explosions in the nearby town of Rafah, which borders Gaza. The sources said all roads leading to Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid were shut down. The interior ministry in the Gaza Strip, run by the Islamist Hamas group, reinforced its forces along the border with Egypt.
“It is a sharp reminder that despite the intensive counter-terrorism military campaign in the Sinai over the past six months, IS ranks are not decreasing – if anything they are increasing in numbers as well as sophistication, training and daring,” Aimen Dean, a former al-Qaeda insider who now runs a Gulf-based security consultancy, said in a note.
Islamic State had urged its followers to escalate attacks during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. – (Reuters)
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