Egypt: Eleven soldiers killed in jihadist attack in Sinai
Egyptian border, in the Sinai desert.
REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
The army reports that these soldiers were killed while thwarting a "terrorist" attack near the Suez Canal in the Sinai.
It is one of the heaviest tribes paid by Egyptian forces in years.
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It all started, according to a military statement, when
“a group of takfiri elements
(jihadists or Sunni radical Islamists)
launched an attack against a military hydraulic pumping station
”.
The soldiers "
repelled them and fighting ensued in which eleven soldiers were killed and five wounded
".
The terrorists were pursued "
to an isolated region of Sinai
", according to the same text.
On Facebook, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi assured that "
these terrorist operations will not overcome the determination of the country and its army to cut the evil of terrorism at the root
".
Sinai, terrorist hotbed
Since February 2018, the army and the police have launched a vast “anti-terrorist” operation in the Sinai Peninsula where radical cells are raging, some of which have pledged allegiance to the jihadist group Islamic State (IS).
They are also fighting radical insurgents in the Western Desert, between the Nile Valley and the border with Libya.
► To read also: Egypt: death penalty for 22 jihadists convicted in a series of attacks since 2013
In the Sinai, the attacks are particularly concentrated on the oil and gas pipelines that supply Israel and Jordan.
Regularly, the army announces that it has killed jihadists in this area.
In all, more than a thousand jihadists and dozens of members of the security forces have been killed, according to official figures, but no report from an independent source is available and North Sinai is off limits to journalists.
Violent attacks in 2019 and 2020
The last major bombing in Cairo dates back to May 2020, when an attack targeted the Giza pyramids in the southwest of the capital, injuring 17 a month before Egypt hosted the African Cup of Nations. Football nations.
In August 2019, also in Cairo, around 20 people were killed when a car loaded with explosives rammed three other vehicles at high speed, causing a huge explosion.
The following month, a police officer and seven members of a “
terrorist cell
” were killed in exchanges of fire in Cairo.
These jihadists were preparing, according to the authorities, to attack Christians during the Easter celebrations.
(
With
AFP)
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Egypt
Terrorism