(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) The Egyptian army said Monday that at least 11 militants were killed in a military campaign on an upsurging militancy in the restive Sinai Peninsula. In a press statement, Armed Forces Spokesman Brigadier Mohammad Samir said that the militants were killed Sunday in a fire exchange with army forces during a raid on their hideout in northern Sinai. He added that new deaths take the number of militants who were killed in clashes with the armed forces over the past two days up to 17.
He pointed out that the campaign also resulted in the demolishing of three smuggling tunnels that links Egypt's Sinai to the Palestinian Gaza Strip. The army also set ablaze three cars and eight motorbikes suspected to be used by the militants in their attacks on army posts and personnel.
Sinai Peninsula is largely demilitarized as part of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty of 1979 but Israel has approved troop reinforcements to combat militants and smuggling by Palestinians into Gaza.
It has suffered a security vacuum since the January 2011 uprising which toppled president Hosni Mubarak's regime. The situation escalated after the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi on 3 July, 2013 and the subsequent crackdown on his supporters across the country.
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