As Sinai Conflict Deadline Approaches, Militant Deaths Mount
- Almost 30 militants killed since start of military operation
- Offensive comes ahead of March presidential elections
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Egypt’s military said it killed almost 30 militants in Sinai over the past few days, in a full-throttle burst as a presidential deadline to pacify the restive peninsula approached.
Security forces killed 12 militants in a firefight, the military spokesman said on his official Facebook page Monday, after killing 16 others a day earlier in the rugged territory that’s become the base for the Islamic State’s local affiliate in Egypt. The offensive, announced on Friday, comes ahead of next month’s president elections, in which Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi is expected to easily secure a second term. About 100 other suspected militants have been arrested and weapons caches destroyed, the army said.