Egypt kills 29 IS militants in Sinai Peninsula

CAIRO: Egypt’s army said on Tuesday it had launched a “major military operation” against the IS group in the Sinai Peninsula, killing 29 militants and leaving two soldiers dead.

The army said it launched the operation on Monday morning to “eliminate terrorist elements” around the north Sinai towns of Rafah, Sheikh Zuweid and El-Arish.

It said in a statement that 29 militants were killed along with an officer and a soldier in the fighting.

The army often reports large death tolls among the insurgents but they are impossible to verify and there has been little noticeable impact on the ability of IS to carry out deadly attacks on the security forces.

In a statement the IS’s Egypt affiliate said it killed the two soldiers with a roadside bomb that targeted their vehicle as it left a military base with a large convoy.

Egypt has been struggling to quell an insurgency in the peninsula since the military overthrew president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

The government says hundreds of police and soldiers have been killed, many of them in attacks claimed by IS’s Sinai Province affiliate.

The operation came days after the Sinai Province released a video documenting its attacks on the military in Sinai, including footage of a wire-guided missile strike that destroyed a navy vessel.

The group has claimed several roadside bombings over the past two weeks, which the military has not commented on.

Six peacekeepers, including four Americans, with a multinational force monitoring Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel were wounded in two roadside bombings last week. — Reuters Paris: France began reconnaissance flight missions over Syria on Tuesday, military officials said. The move followed an announcement by President Francois Hollande during a wide-ranging news conference on Monday that the flights would be conducted with the aim of gathering intelligence for possible future airstrikes against the Islamic State. “The decision announced by Francois Hollande has taken effect. These reconnaissance flights will determine the appropriate time and action that can be taken,” Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said without elaborating.

A statement from the French military said the mission was undertaken as part of the international coalition operation in the region against the Islamic State, which is called Operation Inherent Resolve. The United States and Arab allies started airstrikes against the IS in Syria last year, six weeks after the US and western states, including France, launched a similar campaign in Iraq with the blessing of authorities in Baghdad. — dpa