Mourners carry the coffin of an Egyptian soldier during his funeral in the village of Abwan, in the province of Minya, on May 1. The man was killed in an explosion targeting an armored vehicle near Bir al-Abed in northern Sinai. - Mohamed Hakim / AFP

Egyptian security forces killed 18 suspected jihadists in the northeast Sinai Peninsula, two days after a deadly attack on the military, claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group, the Interior Ministry said .

"The national security department has received information about a group of terrorists who have taken refuge in a house in Bir al-Abd", a city in North Sinai province, the ministry said in a statement in the night from Saturday to Sunday.

Ten Egyptian soldiers killed or wounded by IS two days earlier

The security forces went there on Saturday and "targeted and killed 18 terrorists after an exchange of fire with them". Weapons and explosives were found in the house, the ministry also said.

The operation comes two days after an IS claimed attack on an Egyptian army vehicle in Bir al-Abd, in which 10 soldiers were "killed or injured," according to military officials, who gave no further details. details on the balance sheet. The day after the attack, the army had already announced that it had killed two jihadists suspected of being "very dangerous" in the Sinai, a peninsula in the throes of an insurrection.

Extensive "counterterrorism" operation in Sinai since February 2018

Egyptian security forces have been trying for years to contain the insurgency in northern Sinai, which includes a local group affiliated with IS. The insurgency escalated after the army’s ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in 2013 following major protests.

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 800 suspected jihadists and nearly 70 soldiers have been killed in clashes, according to official figures. However, no verified independent source report is available and the region is largely forbidden to journalists.

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  • Terrorism
  • Jihadism
  • Attack
  • Daesh
  • Islamist
  • Egypt
  • World