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CAIRO — At the very least 11 Egyptian troops, together with an officer, had been killed Saturday in a militant assault that focused a water-pumping station east of the Suez Canal, the army stated.
In an announcement, it stated not less than 5 different troops had been wounded within the assault, one of many deadliest towards Egyptian safety forces in recent times. Troops had been pursuing militants in an remoted space of the northern Sinai Peninsula, the assertion added. It gave no additional particulars or the assault’s exact location.
Two Northern Sinai residents stated the assault passed off within the city of Qantara within the province of Ismailia, which stretches eastward from the Suez Canal.
The militants ambushed troops guarding the pumping facility, earlier than fleeing to the desert in Northern Sinai, in accordance with the residents, who spoke on situation of anonymity for his or her security.
No group claimed duty for Saturday’s assault.
Final week, suspected militants blew up a pure gasoline pipeline in Northern Sinai’s city of Bir al-Abd, inflicting a hearth however no casualties.
Egypt is battling an Islamic State-led insurgency within the Sinai that intensified after the army overthrew an elected however divisive Islamist president in 2013. The militants have carried out scores of assaults, primarily focusing on safety forces and Christians.
The army has claimed that insurgents have suffered heavy losses in current months as safety forces, aided by armed tribesmen, intensified their efforts to remove them.
The tempo of militant assaults in Sinai’s important theater of operations and elsewhere has slowed to a trickle since February 2018, when the army launched an enormous operation in Sinai in addition to elements of the Nile Delta and deserts alongside the nation’s western border with Libya.
The battle towards militants in Sinai has largely taken place hidden from the general public eye, with journalists, non-residents and outdoors observers barred from the realm. The battle has additionally been saved at a distance from vacationer resorts on the southern finish of the peninsula.
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