CAIRO: Security forces have killed nine militants in the Sinai Peninsula and also destroyed 15 vehicles transporting weapons into Egypt across its western border, the military said in statements on Sunday.

The “extremists” were killed in two separate incidents in the middle Sinai, but the military did not say when they took place. Both involved the air force and “law enforcement forces”.

The military said a plan­ned “hostile act” was foiled after “a highly dangerous terrorist” group was discovered and tracked, and six militants were killed in a mountainous area. In a separate incident, three “highly dangerous” extre­mists were killed and another was arrested.

A four-wheel-drive vehicle and five caches containing “large amounts of explosives and ammunition” were destr­oyed, the military added.

On Egypt’s western border with Libya, warplanes have attacked and destroyed 15 four-wheel-drive vehicles carrying weapons, ammunition and contraband over the past 24 hours, the military said on Sunday.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2017