Five Egyptian soldiers and seven jihadists were killed on Wednesday at dawn in a new attack in the Sinai region (East) plagued by a jihadist insurgency, the Egyptian army reported.
“An officer and four soldiers were killed and two other soldiers were injured,” the armed forces spokesman said in a statement.
This is the second attack of its kind in less than a week.
Already on Saturday, the army had reported eleven soldiers killed and five others injured while trying to thwart a “terrorist” attack near the Suez Canal in the Sinai. The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group claimed responsibility for the attack on Sunday via its propaganda organ Amaq.
In February 2018, the army and the police launched a vast “anti-terrorist” operation in the Sinai Peninsula, where radical cells are rife, some of which have pledged allegiance to IS. They are also fighting radical insurgents in the Western Desert, between the Nile Valley and the border with Libya.
In the Sinai, the attacks are particularly concentrated on one point: the oil and gas pipelines that supply Israel and Jordan.
Regularly, the army announces that it has killed jihadists in this area. Since May 7, 23 jihadists have been killed according to the army.
In all, more than a thousand jihadists and dozens of members of the security forces have been killed, according to official figures – but no independent report is available and North Sinai is off limits to journalists.
The military announced the attack as President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi met in Cairo with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. The two men discussed “cooperation in the field of counter-terrorism” between the two countries, the Egyptian presidency announced in a statement posted on its Facebook page.
Attacks had taken place in Cairo in recent years, particularly in May 2019, on the site of the Giza pyramids, injuring 17 people.
In August 2019, also in Cairo, around 20 people were killed when a car loaded with explosives hit three other vehicles, causing a huge explosion.
In April 2020, a policeman 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.