After crushing blows in Iraq and Syria, global jihadists could be eyeing Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula as a new home base, the Egyptian army says, as it presses an offensive in the region.
Cairo last week announced a major operation against jihadists across swathes of territory, including the volatile region which has been at the heart of a persistent Islamic State group insurgency.
The security sweep in the Sinai, Nile Delta and Western Desert near the border with Libya comes as the country prepares for polls next month, in which President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is seeking re-election.
A picture taken on November 28, 2017 from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, shows smoke billowing following an explosion close to the border on the Egyptian side of the divided city. (AFP/SAID KHATIB)
Army spokesman Tamer el-Refai says at a press conference that intelligence showed that jihadists were planning “to create a new terrorist home base in another area that could potentially be the Sinai Peninsula.”
The spokesman told a tightly controlled press conference that 53 jihadists have been killed since the start of the operation, while more than 600 people have been detained.
— AFP
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