Three Egypt Army soldiers killed in Sinai counterterrorism operation

Egyptian security forces pressing a campaign against Islamist militants have killed 52 suspected jihadists in the Sinai Peninsula in operations in which three soldiers also died, the army said Monday, October 8.

The military in February launched a sweeping operation focused on the Sinai in eastern Egypt aimed at wiping out jihadists, including from Islamic State, who have been waging a bloody insurgency.

On Monday, the military said that 52 “takfiris” or Sunni Muslim extremists were killed in two separate operations by security forces in the restive peninsula.

Three members of the armed forces were also killed, it said in a statement, without stating when the operations took place.

The military has regularly reported operations in the Sinai since it launched the campaign.

According to official figures, a total of more than 350 suspected jihadists and at least 30 soldiers have been killed in the “Sinai 2018” campaign.

Last week, Islamic State’s Wilayat Sinai said local leader Abu Hamza al-Maqdisi had been killed in an air raid on the Sinai.

Insurgents have killed hundreds of police officers and soldiers in the Sinai since the army ousted Egypt’s president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

The Army launched the Sinai offensive on February 9 after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi gave his army commander a three month deadline in November to quash the jihadist insurgency.

The ultimatum came after suspected ISIS gunmen massacred more than 300 worshippers at a mosque in northern Sinai the same month.

With reporting from AFP