CAIRO: Seven Egyptian soldiers and 71 militants have been killed since the launch of a wide-ranging operation to quell an Daesh group affiliate in Sinai earlier this month, the military said.
“As a result of the heroic combat operations by our armed forces...seven heroes of the armed forces were martyred,” military spokesman Col. Tamer Rifai said at a press conference aired Thursday on state television.
“71 extremists have been killed and five arrested,” he said.
Rifai added that 1,852 other suspects have been rounded up in the operation that began on February 9, following an ultimatum by the President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to end the deadly insurgency.
IS attacks have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula. The group has also killed over 100 Christians in the past year and targeted tourists.
Sissi ordered his security commanders to put an end to the attacks following a massacre at a northern Sinai mosque in November that killed more than 300 worshippers.
IS is believed to have carried out the attack on the mosque, frequented by Sufi Muslims, but it has not claimed responsibility.
The group’s Egyptian branch has used the north of the Sinai Peninsula, which borders Israel, as a staging ground for its attacks.
Officials say IS has tried to move fighters to Sinai following defeats in Iraq and Syria, where it has lost most of its territory.
Egypt is holding a presidential election next month, which Sissi is expected to easily win.
Seven soldiers, 71 militants killed in Egypt Sinai operations
Seven soldiers, 71 militants killed in Egypt Sinai operations
Iran says any US attack including limited strikes would be ‘act of aggression’
- Foreign ministry spokesman said any state would react to an act of aggression as part of its inherent right of self-defense
- Trump said Friday he was considering a limited strike if Tehran did not reach a deal with the US
TEHRAN: Iran said Monday that any US attack, including limited strikes, would be an “act of aggression” that would precipitate a response, after President Donald Trump said he was considering a limited strike on Iran.
“And with respect to your first question concerning the limited strike, I think there is no limited strike,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said at a briefing in Tehran attended by an AFP journalist.
“An act of aggression would be regarded as an act of aggression. Period. And any state would react to an act of aggression as part of its inherent right of self-defense ferociously so that’s what we would do.”
Trump said Friday he was considering a limited strike if Tehran did not reach a deal with the United States.
“I guess I can say I am considering that,” he replied following a question from reporters.
The two countries concluded a second round of indirect talks in Switzerland on Tuesday under Omani mediation, against the backdrop of a major US military build-up in the region.
Further talks, confirmed by Iran and Oman but not by the United States, are scheduled for Thursday.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is leading the negotiations for Iran, while the United States is represented by envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Trump is wondering why Iran has not “capitulated” in the face of Washington’s military deployment, Witkoff said in an interview with Fox News broadcast on Sunday.
Baqaei responded Monday by saying that Iranians had never capitulated at any point in their history.
