07:55 02/07/2015
Ismailia - Egypt's army said on Wednesday more than 100 militants
and 17 soldiers were killed after simultaneous assaults on military
checkpoints in North Sinai, in the deadliest fighting in years in the
restive province.
After a day of fighting, which involved F-16
jets and Apache helicopters, the army said it would not stop its
operations until it had cleared the area of all "terrorist
concentrations".
By late Wednesday, an army spokesperson said the
situation in North Sinai was "100% under control". Security sources and
witnesses later said aerial bombardments on militant targets had
resumed.
ISIS’s Egyptian affiliate, Sinai Province, had claimed
responsibility, saying it attacked more than 15 security sites and
carried out three suicide bombings.
The
militants' assault, a significant escalation in violence in the
peninsula that lies between Israel, the Gaza Strip and the Suez Canal,
was the second high-profile attack in Egypt this week. On Monday, a bomb
killed the prosecutor-general in Cairo.
It
raised questions about the government's ability to contain an
insurgency that has already killed hundreds of police and soldiers.
The
insurgents want to topple the Cairo government and have stepped up
their campaign since 2013, when then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
removed President Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood after mass
protests against his rule.
Sisi, who regards the Brotherhood as a threat to national security, has since overseen a harsh crackdown on Islamists.
An
army statement said the fighting had been concentrated in the towns of
Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah and that the militants used car bombs and
various weapons.
Of the 17 soldiers killed, four were officers, and 13 more soldiers were wounded, the statement said.
Some security sources put the death toll for army and police much higher.
The
army spokesman told state television that a number of militants had
been arrested. He also posted pictures on his official Facebook page
which he said showed the bodies of scores of militants. They were
dressed in fatigues.
Security sources said the militants had
planned to lay siege to the town of Sheikh Zuweid. "But we have dealt
with them and broke the siege," one of the sources said.
Booby traps at Sheikh Zuweid
Earlier, security sources said militants had surrounded a police station in Sheikh Zuweid and planted bombs around it.
The
militants also planted bombs along a road between Sheikh Zuweid and
al-Zuhour army camp and seized two armoured vehicles, weapons and
ammunition, the sources said.
Suleiman al-Sayed, a 49-year-old
Sheikh Zuweid resident told Reuters earlier on Wednesday that he was not
allowed to leave his home while clashes were ongoing. He said he had
glimpsed "five Land Cruisers with masked gunmen waving black flags."
Witnesses
and security sources also heard two explosions in the nearby town of
Rafah, which borders Gaza. The sources said all roads leading to Rafah
and Sheikh Zuweid were shut down. The interior ministry in the Gaza
Strip, run by the Islamist Hamas group, reinforced its forces along the
border with Egypt.
"It is a sharp reminder that despite the
intensive counter-terrorism military campaign in the Sinai over the past
six months, IS ranks are not decreasing - if anything they are
increasing in numbers as well as sophistication, training and daring,"
Aimen Dean, a former al Qaeda insider who now runs a Gulf-based security
consultancy, said in a note.
State of emergency
ISIS
had urged its followers to escalate attacks during the Islamic holy
month of Ramadan which started in mid-June, though it did not specify
Egypt as a target. In April, the army extended by three months a state
of emergency imposed in parts of Sinai.
Besides bombardments in
the region, the army has destroyed tunnels into the Palestinian-ruled
Gaza Strip and created a security buffer zone in northern Sinai. It is
also digging a trench along the border with Gaza to deter smuggling.
Under
the terms of Egypt's 1979 peace accord with Israel, the Sinai is
largely demilitarised. But Israel has regularly agreed to Egypt bringing
in reinforcements to tackle the Sinai insurgency, and one Israeli
official signalled there could be further such deployments following
Wednesday's attacks.
"This incident is a game-changer," an official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Sisi's
government does not distinguish between the now-outlawed Brotherhood,
which says it is committed to peaceful activism, and other militants.
The
courts have sentenced hundreds of alleged Brotherhood supporters to
death in recent months. Morsi himself, and other senior Brotherhood
figures, also face the death penalty.
The
cabinet, which met in the Police Academy for security reasons on
Wednesday, approved a draft anti-terrorism law, which it said would
"achieve quick and just deterrence".
"Any terrorist or criminal attacks that aim to sow chaos, will be confronted," the cabinet said, citing the interior minister.
In
Cairo, the interior ministry said security forces killed nine leading
members of the Muslim Brotherhood in an apartment in a western suburb
after the men opened fire on them.
The interior ministry said the
group were holding a meeting to plot attacks. It said some of those
killed had been convicted in court cases. The Brotherhood denied the
group was armed and said in a statement the killing was a turning point
that could lead to repercussions by the "oppressed".
"The assassination will drive the situation down an extremely dangerous slope and toward a total explosion."
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