By Mohamed al-Rayes
CAIRO (AA) – One army officer and 18 militants have been killed recently amid an ongoing army offensive in Egypt’s restive Sinai Peninsula, according to the Egyptian military.
In a Thursday statement, the army said that security forces had recently killed eight “extremist militants” in northern and central Sinai.
Another 10 “extremely dangerous” militants were killed in separate police raids in the North Sinai city of Arish, according to the statement.
Meanwhile, at least one army officer was killed in combat, the statement added, without providing the exact time or place of the officer’s death.
The Sinai Peninsula has remained the epicenter of a militant insurgency since mid-2013, when Mohamed Morsi — Egypt’s first freely elected president — was ousted in a bloody military coup.
Since February, Egyptian security forces have been waging extensive operations against militant groups said to be based in Sinai and the Western Desert.
To date, a total of 445 militants and 40 military personnel have been killed in the ongoing operation, according to figures released by the military.
