Egyptian army says 13 militants killed in northern Sinai

Egypt's security forces draw fresh blood in their ongoing battle against insurgents in the volatile Sinai Peninsula.

2 min read

24 May, 2016

Egyptian security forces display arms captured after the fighting on Monday [Anadolu]

A shootout in the restive Sinai province has left 13 militants dead, said an Egyptian army spokesman on Tuesday.

The army had conducted "successful pre-emptive strikes against terrorist elements", said the spokesman.

As many as 30 improvised explosive devices capabl of being planted on moving targets were also neutralised or destroyed northwest of Mount Halal.

In the same area, Egyptian security forces discovered 50 anti-tank mines, and a storage area for explosives which was later destroyed.

The militant groups were also in posession of materials used to manufacture IEDs, including 100 plastic barrels of explosive materials and five bags of ammonium nitrate, officials revealed.

This latest defeat for militants in Egypt's volatile Sinai region is part of a larger effort, dubbed "Operation Martyr's Right", launched in September to tackle Islamist militants operating on the peninsula.

The operation came in the aftermath of a coordinated attack that killed 21 soldiers at Sinai army checkpoints in July 2015.

Egypt has been battling insurgent groups that rose to prominence following the coup that toppled President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

Some Sinai militant groups pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group leadership based in Syria and Iraq in November 2014.

On Saturday, three Egyptian army officers were killed by an explosive device in North Sinai, following the killing of ten IS group members on Friday night.