On August 5, 2018, Egyptian troops announced that they had killed at least 52 ISIS takfiri in the restive Sinai enclave. The killed militants believed to belong to the Islamic State are said to be part of a caliphate reestablishing itself in Africa’s Sahel. Egyptian troops launched a kinetic operation in its northern regions in February of this year to flush out and decimate Daesh elements in the country.
In a comprehensive statement issued by Egyptian Defense ministry, the 52 extremists killed are among over 300 others killed since February in an elaborate multi-agency operation in the restive desert regions of Egypt. Moreover, the operation is also active towards Egypt’s border with conflict-ridden Libya to the west.
The highlights of the milestone attack include the obliteration vehicles packed with weapons and ammunition which intelligence indicated were being transported across the border into Libya. The military further echoed that airstrikes destroyed 32 vehicles containing weapons and ammunition in the Western Desert and in the south.
Ground troops with aerial support from the Airforce destroyed 26 hideouts and weapons depots and dismantled 64 explosive devices that are said to have been part of future plans by the terrorists.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi who ordered February’s operation has termed the operation as successful and actively fulfilling its mandate as it is eradicating Islamists and restoring peace in the north African nation.
Egypt has been marred by extremists’ elements since the Arab Spring and the ouster of Hosni Mubarak and the Muslim Brotherhood and as such offering prime breeding ground for radical elements and establishment of an IS caliphate in the Sinai Peninsula. Naturally, the proximity to Libya and the larger Middle East has left the country in a direct and strategic position for migrating face of terrorism. The geographical terrain of the deserted areas offers ample over and strategic advantage for the takfiri making it very hard. However, Egypt and he allies in the Arab League have invested heavily and in collaboration with the west to rid the Sahel region of Islamist elements evidenced by a large number of terrorists killed and or arrested in the past year.
