The Egyptian army announced in a statement on Sunday that it killed "89 highly dangerous Takfiris" during its military operations in northeastern Sinai over an unspecified period. The statement also noted that eight of its personnel were killed or injured in these operations.
The army, in a statement published on the official pages of the Egyptian armed forces spokesperson, Ghareeb Abdel Hafiz, on social media, said, "During the previous period, the heroes of the armed forces successfully delivered successive strikes against terrorist elements and carried out a number of qualitative operations that resulted in the killing of 89 highly dangerous Takfiri individuals in the operational areas of North Sinai."
The statement added, "As a result of the brave combat actions of our armed forces in the operational areas, eight of our armed forces heroes attained the honor of martyrdom and injury." The statement did not clarify the period during which the mentioned military operations took place.
It indicated that automatic weapons, ammunition, and explosives were seized, noting the "discovery and destruction of 13 tunnel openings used by terrorist elements to infiltrate North Sinai."
Egypt has been facing an escalation in the activities of extremist Islamists in North and Central Sinai for years, which intensified following the army's ousting of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in 2013 after widespread popular protests against his rule.
Since February 2018, Egyptian forces have been conducting a large-scale campaign against armed and extremist groups in the region and other parts of the country. According to army statistics, over a thousand individuals suspected of being jihadists and dozens of military personnel have been killed since the start of the campaign.
