18 terrorists killed as Egyptian army thwarts terror attack in North Sinai

Egypt’s army announced on Tuesday that it killed 18 terrorists as its forces thwarted a major terror attack on a military outpost in North Sinai province.

In a statement, the army said members of the armed forces managed to foil a terrorist attack on a security post in North Sinai’s Beir al-Abd area, adding that the assault caused the death of two soldiers and the injury of four others.

The troopers at the outpost, in cooperation with air forces, chased the terrorists at a nearby farm and uninhabited homes, killing 18 of them, including one suicide bomber, according to the statement.

Three of the four vehicles used by terrorists in the attack which were booby-trapped were destroyed, it said.

Egypt has been fighting a wave of terrorist activities that have killed hundreds of policemen, soldiers and civilians since the ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

Most of the attacks in Egypt over the past few years were claimed by a Sinai-based group loyal to the Islamic State regional terrorist group.

The Egyptian security forces, in return, have killed hundreds of terrorists and arrested thousands of suspects during the country’s anti-terror war declared following Morsi’s ouster.