CAIRO — Egypt’s army said Saturday seven suspected jihadists were “eliminated” and 15 soldiers killed or wounded in an attack in the Sinai Peninsula, where troops are fighting the Islamic State jihadist group.

Security forces responded to the attack on a checkpoint in restive North Sinai with an “exchange of fire,” army spokesman Tamer el-Refai said in a statement.

“An officer and 14 non-commissioned soldiers were killed or wounded,” he added, without giving a precise number for the dead.

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Medical sources in North Sinai told AFP that 11 soldiers were killed in the attack.

Security forces would continue to pursue “the terrorist elements to eliminate them,” El-Refai added.

Egypt often announces that jihadists have been killed in military operations, but statements that security forces have suffered significant losses are very rare.

Since the army’s overthrow of elected Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, hundreds of soldiers and police have been killed in attacks by extremist groups.

Civilians have also been targeted in jihadist attacks, particularly members of Egypt’s minority Coptic Christian community.

Egypt’s army launched an offensive a year ago dubbed “Sinai 2018” on the orders of President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, after a jihadist attack in North Sinai killed more than 300 people at a mosque.

The army says that more than 550 suspected jihadists have been killed in the offensive — which has also targeted militants elsewhere in Egypt — at the cost of more than 30 soldiers.

But no independent statistics are available and the North Sinai is largely cut off to media and foreigners.</s>The assault comes a day after three people, including a policeman, were wounded in an explosion in Cairo

An attack on an army checkpoint in the northern Sinai Peninsula killed and wounded 15 Egyptian soldiers on Saturday, marking the deadliest assault against the security forces since the start of a major military operation there a year ago.

Military spokesman Col Tamer El Rifaai said soldiers at the checkpoint exchanged fire with the attackers, killing seven of them, and that forces were pursuing more of the suspects in the area.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Saturday’s early morning attack, but it bore the hallmarks of ISIS, which is now leading the insurgency in rugged and largely remote northern Sinai.

A brief statement issued by Col El Rifaai did not give the location of the checkpoint or give a breakdown of the wounded and killed among the 15 casualties. He only said that they included an officer and soldiers of various ranks.

However, security officials, said the checkpoint was a few kilometres south the airport serving the coastal city of El Arish.

Unlike most previous attacks targeting checkpoints, the officials said, Saturday’s attack did not commence with a suicide car bombing or a barrage of rocket-propelled grenades.

Egypt’s security forces have battled militants in Sinai for years to quash an insurgency that become deadlier in recent years. Last February, Egypt launched a large-scale operation to eradicate the militants, throwing thousands of elite troops backed by fighter jets, helicopter gunships, tanks and naval vessels into the battle.

The operation significantly reduced the number of attacks and allowed the return of near-normal life in El Arish, northern Sinai’s largest city where militants once carried out assassinations, abducted critics, attacked members of the security forces, terrorised civilians and carried out robberies in broad daylight.

The militants have consistently failed to win and control territory in Sinai, unlike their counterparts in Iraq and Syria. In Syria, the Kurdish-majority Syrian Democratic Forces, with significant international backing, reduced ISIS to its last sliver of territory and the militants are expected to be overrun in the coming days.

But Saturday’s attack in Egypt, given the relatively high number of casualties, marks a setback to Egypt’s military effort in Sinai.

It has added significance because it came a day after a crude explosive device went off, wounding three people, including a policeman, in Cairo. The authorities blamed members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood for Friday’s attack.

In December, a roadside bomb exploded, hitting a tourist bus in Cairo near the renowned Giza pyramids, killing three Vietnamese tourists along with their Egyptian guide.

Ten other people were wounded.

Military forces are seen in North Sinai, Egypt, December 1, 2017. Reuters</s>Egypt's military said there was a clash at a checkpoint Saturday between suspected jihadists and the military on the Sinai Peninsula. 

 

 A military spokesman told AFP in a statement that seven militants were killed in the attack in the restive North Sinai, while 15 soldiers were either killed or wounded.

Army spokesman Tamer el-Refai said in the statement that "an officer and 14 non-commissioned soldiers were killed or wounded." He did give an exact number for the death toll. 

 

 El-Refai said security forces would go after "the terrorist elements to eliminate them."</s>Egypt's army said Saturday seven suspected jihadists were "eliminated" and 15 soldiers killed or wounded in an attack in the Sinai Peninsula, where the military is fighting the Islamic State group.

Security forces responded to the attack on a checkpoint in restive North Sinai in an "exchange of fire", army spokesman Tamer el-Refai said in a statement, without giving a precise number for the soldiers killed.

Egypt launched a nationwide operation against militants in February 2018, mainly focused on jihadists in North Sinai province.</s>CAIRO (Reuters) - Seven militants were killed and 15 Egyptian military personnel were killed or wounded in a clash in North Sinai on Saturday, the Egyptian military said.

The breakdown of military casualties was not immediately clear. However, two security sources told Reuters that the some of the injuries were serious.

Security forces launched a campaign a year ago against Islamist militants focused on Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, and say they have killed several hundred militants since then.

“Combing operations and the pursuit and elimination of the terrorist elements in the area where the incident took place is ongoing,” the military spokesman said in a statement.

The security sources said operations were taking place under aerial cover.

Since 2013, Egyptian security forces have battled Islamist militants, who have repeatedly targeted security checkpoints and Egypt’s Christian minority.</s>Egypt’s military spokesman says extremists have attacked an army checkpoint in the troubled northern Sinai Peninsula, causing 15 casualties, including the killing of at least one officer.

In a Saturday statement, Colonel Tamer Rifai said the army managed to kill seven of the extremists during the dawn firefight, but did not give any further information on the army’s own casualties.

The army has for years been battling a long-running insurgency in North Sinai that is now led by an Islamic State affiliate. The fighting intensified after the military overthrew an elected but divisive Islamist president in 2013.

Authorities heavily restrict access to the northern Sinai, making it difficult to verify claims related to the fighting.</s>The Egyptian Armed Forces said earlier in the day that they had repelled an attack in the north of the Sinai Peninsula, killing seven terrorists. According to the military, 15 Egyptian soldiers sustained injuries, some of them fatal.

The Egyptian authorities have for years been engaged in counterterrorism activities on the Sinai Peninsula, where militants have repeatedly staged deadly attacks. In 2014, a state of emergency was introduced on the peninsula after militants attacked Egyptian security officers in the area.

READ MORE: Dassault Aviation Refuses to Comment on Rafale Jet Crash Reports in Egypt

Since February 2018, the Egyptian Armed Forces have been carrying out the Sinai-2018 counterterrorism operation, killing or detaining hundreds of militants.

The insurgency was reportedly prompted by the turmoil caused by the Egyptian revolution and the overthrow of then-President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

READ MORE: Chronicle of the Great Revolution in Egypt

*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia and many other countries.</s>CAIRO (Reuters) - Seven militants were killed and 15 Egyptian military personnel were killed or wounded in a clash in North Sinai on Saturday, the Egyptian military said.

“Combing operations and the pursuit and elimination of the terrorist elements in the area where the incident took place is ongoing,” the military spokesman said in a statement.</s>Funeral prayers were held in Cairo and Sharqiya on Sunday to mourn the deaths of an officer and soldiers killed in a deadly attack on Egypt's military in the Sinai Peninsula.

An attack Saturday on an Egyptian army checkpoint in the restive Sinai left 15 soldiers dead or wounded and seven of the suspected Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, ISIS) fighters were killed, the military said.

The breakdown of military casualties was not immediately clear. Two security sources told Reuters news agency some of the injuries were serious.

ISIL later claimed responsibility for the attack on its Amaq website.

It said it killed at least 15 Egyptian troops, revising an earlier figure of 20 dead south of the provincial capital of Arish after clashes with "various kinds of weapons".

The group did not provide evidence for its claim.

Since 2013, ISIL fighters have repeatedly targeted security checkpoints and civilians, particularly members of Egypt's minority Coptic Christian community.

Egypt's army launched a major operation against the fighters a year ago dubbed Sinai 2018, after an attack in North Sinai killed more than 300 people at a mosque.

The army says more than 550 fighters have been killed in the offensive, which has also targeted other armed groups in Egypt - costing the lives of more than 30 soldiers.

 

But no independent statistics are available as North Sinai is largely cut off from the media.</s>The breakdown of military casualties was not immediately clear. However, two security sources told Reuters that the some of the injuries were serious.

Security forces launched a campaign a year ago against Islamist militants focused on Egypt's Sinai peninsula, and say they have killed several hundred militants since then.

"Combing operations and the pursuit and elimination of the terrorist elements in the area where the incident took place is ongoing," the military spokesman said in a statement.

The security sources said operations were taking place under aerial cover.

Since 2013, Egyptian security forces have battled Islamist militants, who have repeatedly targeted security checkpoints and Egypt's Christian minority.
Militants attacked an army checkpoint in Sinai Peninsula killing and injuring 15. It is believed that 11 were killed but that has not been confirmed. Seven militants also died in the attack.