The Egyptian Armed Forces killed 40 militants and arrested another five in North Sinai during ‘Martyr Right’ army operations, an armed forces official spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday.
According to the statement, the Second Field Army engaged in military a week-long sweep, as part of the fourth stage of the ‘Martyr Right’ operation.
Militants’ stationing points were sieged in North Sinai’s cities of al-Arish, Rafah and Sheikh Zewaid.
The seven-day military operation led to the death of 40 militants believed to be members of the IS-affiliated group ‘Sinai Province’. In addition, 20 vehicles and 52 stationing points used by militants were destroyed.
“The army operations in North Sinai led to the destruction of 100 ‘IED’ ‘Improvised Explosive Devices’ and eight small units used to fabricate such ‘IED’S, ” the army’s statement read.
Since 2013, the Egyptian Armed forces and police have engaged in violent military confrontations in North Sinai with the ‘Sinai Province’ group, previously known as ‘Ansar Byat El-Maqdus’ before declaring affiliation with IS in 2014.
The ideology of the ‘Sinai Province’ group is based on considering the army and police forces as ‘apostates’ who should be killed to pave the way for the establishment of a caliphate state in Egypt.
To eliminate these militants, the Egyptian army launched intensive military sweeping operations under the ‘Martyr Right’ military campaign.
