Egyptian army kills 21 militants in Sinai crackdown

Published February 4th, 2014 - 10:15 GMT

There has been a major upsurge in violence in the Sinai peninsula since the ousting of Morsi in July, 2013. The army has been launching a major offensive against militant groups in the area since. (AFP/File)

The Egyptian army shot dead 21 gunmen affiliated to a radical Takfiri group in north Sinai on Tuesday, a security official said.

Egyptian forces launched a crackdown against two suspected "terrorist" cells in the villages of Juz Abu Raad and al-Wadi al-Akhdar in the central Sinai peninsula, the official told Ma'an.

Fierce clashes broke out between Egyptian forces and the gunmen following the raid with 21 suspected militants killed.

Four military helicopters were involved in the operation.

Egyptian armed forces launched large scale military action against militants in the Sinai Peninsula earlier in September, in what officials described as the largest mobilization of force in the area since the 1973 war with Israel.

The military action comes in the wake of rising instability and almost daily attacks in the region, following a July 3 coup by the Egyptian military which unseated President Mohamed Morsi.