Egypt army says 8 soldiers, 14 jihadists killed in attack on Sinai military camp

CAIRO — Egypt’s army said jihadists wearing explosive belts tried to storm a military camp in the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday in an assault that left eight soldiers and 14 attackers dead.

The militants blew themselves up outside the camp after they were prevented by security forces from entering, an army statement said.

“The armed forces were able today to foil a large terrorist operation,” the military said.

Jihadists who have declared allegiance to the Islamic State group (IS) have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen in the Sinai since the military ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, following mass protests against him.

More than 100 jihadists and at least 22 soldiers have been killed in an ongoing operation launched on February 9 against the jihadists, according to army figures.

Earlier Saturday the Egyptian army said that 27 jihadists were killed over the last few days in a sweeping operation in the Sinai to quash extremists based in the peninsula.

Six of the jihadists were killed by aerial bombardment on their hideouts while 12 died in a shoot out with police forces, the military said in a statement. It did not say how the other nine were killed.

Security forces also arrested 114 suspects and found and destroyed a training camp which included a shooting range, an obstacle course, and an underground conference room, it said.

The military did not say whether any of the security forces were killed in the last few days.