Egyptian security forces killed 16 suspected militants in two separate raids conducted in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, local media reported on Tuesday, citing police sources
CAIRO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th February, 2019) Egyptian security forces killed 16 suspected militants in two separate raids conducted in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, local media reported on Tuesday, citing police sources.
According to the Egyptian news outlet, Al-Ahram, Egyptian security forces received information about the whereabouts of two terrorist hideouts in the city of Arish. In the course of the raids on the two locations, the suspected militants opened fire and were liquidated by the Egyptian security forces.
In early February, the Egyptian government launched a massive operation against Islamic militants in the Sinai Peninsula, with whom the government has been fighting since 2011 following the turmoil caused by the Egyptian revolution and the overthrow of then-President Hosni Mubarak. With the launch of "Operation Sinai", Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered the military to defeat militants in north Sinai within three months of an attack on a Sinai mosque in November that killed 300 people.
In parallel to "Operation Sinai" Egypt has been fighting with the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organization (banned in Russia), which it blamed for a Friday bomb explosion near a Cairo mosque.
