CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s chief prosecutor on Monday referred 555 terror suspects to a military court on charges of joining a local affiliate of the Islamic State jihadist group.

The suspects set up dozens of small militant cells and carried out a total of 63 attacks against army and police forces in the restive northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, prosecutor Nabil Sadek said in a statement.

The charges against them, he said, include killing and plotting to kill security personnel, attacking military checkpoints in Northern Sinai and sabotaging a gas pipeline between Egypt and Jordan.

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Only 216 of the 555 suspects are in custody, the statement said.

Also Monday, a criminal court in Cairo sentenced nine suspects to life in prison on terror-related charges.

The Giza Criminal Court sentenced another two defendants each to five years on the same charges, which include joining the Islamic State extremist group. The court also acquitted three suspects in the case. The verdicts can be appealed.

An IS affiliate based in northern Sinai has carried out attacks across Egypt in recent years, mainly targeting security forces and the country’s Christian minority.

Egypt has been battling Islamic jihadists for years, but the insurgency gathered steam and grew deadlier after the 2013 ouster by the military, then led by President Abdel Fatah el-Sissi, of Mohammed Morsi, an Islamist president. Morsi was Egypt’s first freely elected leader whose one year in office proved divisive.

In February, Egypt’s security forces launched an all-out offensive against militants, deploying tens of thousands of troops and police backed by fighter-jets, helicopter gunships, navy vessels and tanks in Sinai and in the Western Desert, along the border with Libya.</s>CAIRO (AP) - Egypt’s chief prosecutor on Monday referred 555 terror suspects to a military court on charges of joining a local affiliate of the Islamic State group.

The suspects set up dozens of small militant cells and carried out a total of 63 attacks against army and police forces in the restive northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, prosecutor Nabil Sadek said in a statement.

The charges against them, he said, include killing and plotting to kill security personnel, attacking military checkpoints in Northern Sinai and sabotaging a gas pipeline between Egypt and Jordan.

Only 216 of the 555 suspects are in custody, the statement said.

Also Monday, a criminal court in Cairo sentenced nine suspects to life in prison on terror-related charges.

The Giza Criminal Court sentenced another two defendants each to five years on the same charges, which include joining the Islamic State group. The court also acquitted three suspects in the case. The verdicts can be appealed.

An IS affiliate based in northern Sinai has carried out attacks across Egypt in recent years, mainly targeting security forces and the country’s Christian minority.

Egypt has been battling Islamic militants for years, but the insurgency gathered steam and grew deadlier after the 2013 ouster by the military, then led by President Abdel Fatah el-Sissi, of Mohammed Morsi, an Islamist president. Morsi was Egypt’s first freely elected leader whose one year in office proved divisive.

In February, Egypt’s security forces launched an all-out offensive against militants, deploying tens of thousands of troops and police backed by fighter-jets, helicopter gunships, navy vessels and tanks in Sinai and in the Western Desert, along the border with Libya.

The Washington Times is switching its third-party commenting system from Disqus to Spot.IM. You will need to either create an account with Spot.im or if you wish to use your Disqus account look under the Conversation for the link "Have a Disqus Account?". Please read our The Washington Times is switching its third-party commenting system from Disqus to Spot.IM. You will need to either create an account with Spot.im or if you wish to use your Disqus account look under the Conversation for the link "Have a Disqus Account?". Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.</s>CAIRO — Egypt’s chief prosecutor has referred 555 terror suspects to a military court on charges of joining a local affiliate of the Islamic State group.

Monday’s statement by the prosecutor says the suspects formed dozens of small militant cells and carried out 63 attacks against army and police forces in the restive northern part of the Sinai Peninsula.

It says only 216 of the 555 suspects are in custody.

Egypt has been battling Islamic militants for years, but the insurgency gathered steam and grew deadlier after the 2013 ouster by the military of Mohammed Morsi, an Islamist president whose year in office proved divisive.

In February, authorities launched a wide-scale operation in Sinai, the Nile Delta and the Western Desert to target “terrorist and criminal elements and organizations.”</s>An Egyptian court on Monday sentenced nine people to life behind bars for alleged acts of violence and links with the ISIL terrorist group, according to a local judicial source.

“The Giza Criminal Court sentenced nine individuals -- two of whom were tried in absentia -- to life in prison after convicting them of working for ISIL,” defense lawyer Ismail al-Rashidi told Anadolu Agency.

Another two defendants in the same case were slapped with five years each behind bars, according to al-Rashidi.

“Three others were acquitted due to a lack of evidence,” the lawyer said, adding that Monday's sentences could still be appealed before the Court of Cassation, Egypt’s highest appellate court.

Egypt has remained roiled by turmoil since the army ousted and imprisoned Mohamed Morsi, the country's first freely elected president, in a 2013 military coup.

Since then, hundreds of people have been sentenced to death -- or to lengthy prison terms -- after being convicted for alleged acts of violence.
Egyptian chief prosecutor Nabil Sadek refers 555 ISIL suspects suspected of 63 terror attacks to a military court, while the Giza Criminal Court in Cairo sentences nine terrorists to life imprisonment and two others to five years imprisonment each.