EL-ARISH, Egypt: Egyptian authorities say police killed 12 Islamic militants when security forces stormed three deserted buildings used as militant hideouts in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula.
An Interior Ministry statement on Thursday says the militants were the first to open fire on the policemen as they surrounded the buildings in the Mediterranean coastal city of El-Arish.
The statement says there were no casualties among the police.
Egypt has for years battled Islamic militants in Sinai.
The insurgency intensified after the military in 2013 ousted an Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi, whose one-year in power proved divisive. However, a large military operation launched this year against the militants in northern Sinai has significantly reduced the number of attacks.
Egyptian police kill 12 militants in Sinai raid
Egyptian police kill 12 militants in Sinai raid
The art of war: fears for masterpieces on loan to Louvre Abu Dhabi
- UAE paid more than €1 billion to borrow priceless works, but experts in France want them back
PARIS: The Middle East war has raised fears for the safety of priceless masterpieces on loan from France to the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the museum’s only foreign branch.
The Abu Dhabi museum, which opened in 2017, has so far escaped damage from nearly 1,800 Iranian drone and missile strikes launched since the conflict erupted on Feb. 28.
However, concerns are mounting in France. “The works must be removed,” said Didier Selles, who helped broker the original agreement between France and the UAE.
French journal La Tribune de l’Art echoed that alarm. “The Louvre’s works in Abu Dhabi must be secured!” it said.
France’s culture ministry said French authorities were “in close and regular contact with the authorities of the UAE to ensure the protection of the works loaned by France.”
Under the agreement with the UAE, France agreed to provide expertise, lend works of art and organize exhibitions, in return for €1 billion, including €400 million for licensing the use of the Louvre name. The deal was extended in 2021 to 2047 for an additional €165 million.
Works on loan include paintings by Rembrandt and Chardin, Classical statues of Isis, Roman sarcophagi and Islamic masterpieces: such as the Pyxis of Al-Mughira.
A Louvre Abu Dhabi source said the museum was designed to protect collections from both security threats and natural disasters.
