3 Egyptian soldiers killed in Sinai campaign
CAIRO: Egypt said Monday three of its soldiers had been killed in the Sinai Peninsula during a wide-ranging operation against the local branch of Daesh. Four “extremists” were also killed, the military said in a statement.
It was the first military death toll announced since the army started its campaign on Feb. 9. It says it has killed about 60 militants and arrested hundreds of suspects since the operation began.
It launched the offensive after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi gave his army commander a three-month deadline in November to quash a militant insurgency which has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen.
The ultimatum came after suspected Daesh gunmen massacred more than 300 worshippers at a mosque in northern Sinai the same month.
The group has also targeted Christians, killing more than 100 in suicide bombings and attacks since December 2016.
The group had claimed responsibility for a 2015 Russian airliner bombing that killed all 224 people on board after the plane took off from a southern Sinai resort.
Egypt is holding a presidential election next month, which El-Sisi is expected to win. Daesh has also threatened attacks on election-related installations.
Separately, an Egyptian court recently sentenced 65 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group to jail over alleged incitement against the state.
The decision by a court in the Nile Delta city of Zagazig also acquitted eight individuals. Prosecutors said the group was caught with inflammatory leaflets opposing the army and state institutions, and calling for violence.
Of the group, 44 were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, while the rest received two years.
Under El-Sisi, Egypt has waged its most sweeping crackdown on dissent in its modern history, a process that has intensified ahead of a March election in which El-Sisi faces no serious opposition.
Most recently, police arrested Abdel-Monaem Abul Fetouh, a religious scholar, over his alleged links to the Brotherhood.