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(*<P7 +uman 5ights :atch accused (gySt yesterday of mass demolition of homes in the Sinai Peninsula, some of which it said might be illegal, as the military fights an Islamist militants insurgency in the remote desert region

7he 1ew <ork based rights watchdog said demolitions, which have taken place in recent years to create buffer zones on borders such as that with *aza, had increased sig nificantly.

7hey were also being used to punish suspected militants and their relatives.

(gypt’s military did not im mediately comment on the report. It has reMected previ ous reports by +RW on Sinai, saying they relied on “undoc umented sources´.

(gypt in )ebruary launched a highly publicized operation against Islamic State militants who have waged years of at tacks against security forces and more recently against ci vilians in which hundreds of people have been killed. $s part of a push against the militants, authorities an nounced they were razing farmland and properties for several km miles around the town of al $rish in 1orth Si nai. $fter militants stepped up their attacks against (gyptian forces in , the military razed an e[tensive area along the border with *aza.

+RW said the authorities had demolished more than , buildings and razed farmland within a km . miles area along the *aza border, as well as scores of buildings near al $rish.

“7he total number of build ings demolished so far in

is the largest since the government ordered the evic tion of residents from the Rafah buffer zone in October

,´ it said.

7he group also said three wit nesses had reported that secu rity forces had destroyed or burned “several buildings´ in al $rish which they claimed suspects or relatives of mili tants owned.

“7he (gyptian army claims it is protecting people from mil itants, but it’s absurd to think that destroying homes and displacing lifelong residents would make them safer,´ +RW’s Middle (ast director Sarah /eah Whitson said in a statement.

Reuters could not indepen dently verify +RW’s report. (gypt does not allow interna tional media to travel to 1orth Sinai to report.

&ritics say (gypt’s use of conventional military might against militants who have hidden out for years in Sinai is unlikely to clear them from the vast region, which lies on the Red Sea between the *ulf of Suez and the *ulf of $qaba and is separated from main land (gypt by the Suez &anal. 'efeat of Islamist militants and restoring stability is one of 3resident $bdel )attah al Sisi’s main pledges as he be gins a second term.

(gypt’s popular upris ing, which toppled longtime leader +osni Mubarak, was followed by political instabil ity which severely damaged (gypt’s economy.

(Reuters)