An Egyptian military court on Wednesday, November 7 sentenced eight members of Islamic State (ISIS) operatives to death for their involvement in the 2016 deadly attack against the army.
The military court in Ismailia in the country’s northeast also sentenced 32 to life imprisonment (a prison term of 25 years under Egyptian law) while two others were given 15 years. Two defendants were acquitted, according to the military source.
The accused were tried for “the killing of several soldiers and the attack on a checkpoint and an army vehicle” in 2016, the military source said, without giving further details.
All were identified as terror operatives linked to the Egyptian branch of Islamic State (Wilayat Sinai, or Sinai Province) which has waged an insurgency in North Sinai and carried out several attacks across the country.
In February 2018, the Egyptian army launched Operation Sinai 2018, involving land, naval and air forces, as well as the police and border guards, targeting “terrorist and criminal elements and organisations” in northern and central Sinai, as well as parts of the Nile Delta and the Western Desert.
More than 450 suspected terror fighters and around 30 Egyptian soldiers have been killed since the offensive began, the army sources said in October.
