Four Egyptian soldiers killed in Sinai

Troops were killed during operations around el Arish, close to border with Gaza Strip, says army spokesperson

CAIRO: Four Egyptian soldiers have been killed in the Sinai Peninsula, where the local branch of the Islamic State group regularly attacks security forces, the army said on Sunday.

The troops were killed during operations around el Arish, close to the border with the Gaza Strip, army spokesman Brigadier General Mohamed Samir said on Facebook. Six extremists were killed during the same operation and others were arrested, he said.



Egypt's army has been battling an extremist insurgency in the northern Sinai since the military overthrow of president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. The government says hundreds of police and soldiers have died in the attacks, which have also hit Cairo and the Nile Delta.

Most of the attacks have been claimed by the Egyptian branch of the Islamic State group. The extremist group also said it was responsible for the bombing of a Russian plane over Sinai in October 2015 which killed all 224 people on board, most of them holidaymakers.