Cairo: The Egyptian army announced the killing of five of its soldiers on Wednesday, while thwarting an attempt to attack a security point in North Sinai Governorate, in the northeast of the country.
A spokesman for the Egyptian armed forces, Colonel Gharib Abdel Hafez, said that an officer and four recruits were killed and two other soldiers were wounded during the operation.
In a statement on his Instagram page, Abdel Hafez said that the air force’s concentrated strikes resulted in the killing of seven Takfiri elements and the destruction of a vehicle.
It is noteworthy that this attack is the second against security forces in the peninsula in less than a week, as it came days after an ambush at a checkpoint east of the Suez Canal, on the May 7, which resulted in the killing of ten recruits and an officer and the injury of five others.
The last attack on the Egyptian army was at the end of April 2020, in the city of Bir al-Abed in North Sinai Governorate, which resulted in the death and injury of ten recruits, and it was later claimed by the Islamic State organization.
Egypt has been facing an escalation in the activities of extremist Islamists for years in North and Central Sinai, especially after the army ousted the late Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in 2013 following mass popular protests against his rule.
Since February 2018, the Egyptian forces have launched a massive campaign against armed and extremist groups in North and Central Sinai and in other parts of the country, targeting tourists and Copts, along with the security forces.
Since the beginning of the campaign, the Egyptian army has announced the killing of more than a thousand people it calls “takfiris”, while dozens of soldiers and officers were killed during this campaign, according to the army’s statistics.
UAE condemns terrorist attack in North Sinai
UAE strongly condemned the terrorist attack.
In a statement, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation confirmed that the UAE expressed its strong condemnation of these criminal acts.
Sheikh Abdullah underscored the UAE’s strong condemnation of this terrorist act, and its constant rejection of all forms of violence aimed at destabilising security and stability, in contravention of humanitarian values and principles.
The minister affirmed the UAE’s solidarity and support with Egypt in confronting terrorists, and in taking all measures to protect the country’s security and stability from these criminal attacks.
