Egyptian military forces have killed 10 militants during an operation in the violence-plagued Sinai Peninsula of the North African country.
Army spokesman, Brigadier General Mohamed Samir, stated on Sunday that the militants were killed in an exchange of fire with Egyptian soldiers as they tried to attack a military checkpoint in the area on Saturday.
He said eighteen other militants were arrested during separate raids in north Sinai, adding that 12 vehicles and 41 motorcycles used by the militants were also destroyed during the operations.
Egyptian military forces killed seven militants and arrested 67 others in north Sinai on Thursday and Friday.
A state of emergency has been declared in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula since a militant attack on an Egyptian army checkpoint last month killed more than 30 soldiers.
Residents living along the border between northern Sinai and the besieged Gaza Strip have been ordered to relocate. The Egyptian army is also razing over 800 houses in the area to create a wider buffer zone with Gaza.
The Egyptian military considers the Sinai Peninsula as a safe haven for gunmen who use the region as a base for their acts of terror.
Since the ouster of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s former president, on July 3 last year, gunmen have launched almost daily attacks in Sinai, killing members of security forces.
Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, an al-Qaeda-affiliated militant group, has claimed responsibility for most of the terrorist attacks in the region.
