Seven terrorists were killed and over 400 suspects detained as part of an ongoing military operation in Egypt’s restive Sinai Peninsula, according to the military.
In a statement on Saturday, military spokesman Col. Tamer al-Rifai said warplanes destroyed eight terrorist targets and killed three terrorists in northern and central Sinai.
“Another 4 terrorists were killed in an exchange of fire in Arish,” in northern Sinai, he said.
According to the spokesman, some 408 people, including criminals and suspected terrorists, were detained in the operation, which entered its second week.
The military spokesman said 45 explosive devices were defused and 158 hideouts destroyed during the offensive.
The new death toll brings to 63 terrorists killed and hundreds detained since Egypt launched the security operation on Friday involving the army and police against terrorists blamed for a string of attacks across the country.
The offensive comes one month before the country’s presidential election, in which incumbent President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi seeks re-election.
In November, more than 300 people were killed in a deadly terrorist attack on a mosque in the Sinai Peninsula. Following the attack, al-Sisi, a former army chief, ordered the army to crush Sinai-based terrorist groups within three months.
The Sinai Peninsula has remained the epicenter of a terrorist insurgency since 2013, when the army ousted Mohamed Morsi -- Egypt’s first freely elected president and a Muslim Brotherhood leader -- in a military coup.
