Egypt: 18 terrorists killed in North Sinai

SANAA, May 3 (YPA) – The Egyptian Interior Ministry announced early Sunday that 18 terrorists were killed in an exchange of fire with security forces when Egyptian force targeted a den in the vicinity of the city of Bir al-A’abd, in the northern Sinai Peninsula.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement early Sunday: “Information obtained by the national security sector regarding the fact that a number of terrorist elements took a house in the vicinity of the city of Bir al-A’abd in north Sinai as hideout and center to launch their hostilities.

“Their hideout area has been targeted, and there has been an exchange of fire with these elements. The clashes left at 18 terrorist elements dead,” according to the statement

The statement revealed that 13 automatic weapons, three explosive devices and two explosive belts were found.

The Egyptian army announced Thursday evening that 10 soldiers were killed and wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded in an armored vehicle south of the northern Sinai city of Bir al-A’abd.

“Today, an explosive device exploded in an armoured vehicle south of the town of Bir al-A’abd,” Egyptian army spokesman Colonel Tamer Rifai said in a brief statement.

Since February, the Egyptian armed forces have launched a large-scale military operation in cooperation with police forces, aimed at clearing the Sinai Peninsula of terrorist elements, as well as securing the western border.

E.M