CAIRO - Eight Egyptian soldiers and 14 militants were killed in a confrontation in central Sinai on Saturday, the army said in a statement.



Egypt has been fighting an Islamist insurgency in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi in 2013. </s> Egypt's military said there was a clash at a checkpoint Saturday between suspected jihadists and the military on the Sinai Peninsula. 

 

 A military spokesman told AFP in a statement that seven militants were killed in the attack in the restive North Sinai, while 15 soldiers were either killed or wounded.

Army spokesman Tamer el-Refai said in the statement that "an officer and 14 non-commissioned soldiers were killed or wounded." He did give an exact number for the death toll. 

 

 El-Refai said security forces would go after "the terrorist elements to eliminate them." </s> CAIRO (Reuters) - Seven Egyptian police officers and four militants were killed in a clash in the north of the Sinai Peninsula, the interior ministry said on Wednesday.

The clash took place late on Tuesday when militants attacked forces stationed southwest of the city of Arish, the ministry said in a statement.

Islamic State claimed the attack, saying it had carried out simultaneous raids on military positions in Arish, according to a statement carried on the group’s Amaq news agency.

Security sources said the militants had used more than 10 four-wheel vehicles in coordinated attacks at four sites.

Egyptian security forces have been battling Islamist militants in the Sinai Peninsula for years and launched a counter-insurgency campaign in the area in February 2018.

Earlier this month militants attacked a checkpoint in North Sinai, an assault that left eight security personnel dead according to the interior ministry. </s> CAIRO - Four Egyptian soldiers were killed in an explosion that hit their armoured vehicle on Saturday in the northern Sinai peninsula, where the government is battling an Islamic State-led insurgency, security sources said. The incident occurred about 20 km (12 miles) south of the Mediterranean town of al-Arish.

An insurgency in Egypt's rugged Sinai region has gained pace since the army toppled President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's oldest Islamist movement, following mass protests against his rule in mid-2013. </s> Seven police officers have been killed in a militant attack in restive northern Sinai Peninsula, Egypt's Interior Ministry said Wednesday.

The attack near the regional capital El-Arish targeted an "assembly center" for police, according to the ministry.

Northern Sinai has long been a center of insurgents and Egyptian authorities last year launched an offensive against the militants.

Egypt's government has been battling militants centered in northern Sinai. The insurgency intensified after the military in 2013 ousted Egypt's first and only democratically elected President Mohammed Morsi, who died last week in a courtroom. </s> Seven Egyptian police officers and four militants were killed in a clash in the north of the Sinai Peninsula, the interior ministry said on Wednesday.

The clash took place late on Tuesday when militants attacked forces stationed southwest of the city of Arish, the ministry said in a statement.

Islamic State claimed the attack, saying it had carried out simultaneous raids on military positions in Arish, according to a statement carried on the group's Amaq news agency. </s> Amnesty International says Egypt must launch an independent and thorough investigation into the recent killing of 10 men by security forces in the Sinai Peninsula.

The government announced earlier this month that the 10 had been killed in a shootout in the northern Sinai city of al-Arish. But in a Monday statement, the London-based advocacy group repeated what the families of the slain men already claim — that at least six of them had already been in police custody for weeks before their deaths.

Authorities deny the charge and insist the men had participated in recent attacks targeting security forces in Sinai.

Earlier on Monday, Egypt's army said militants had killed five off-duty soldiers in Sinai after they intercepted them while traveling in a taxi on Sunday. </s> At least five soldiers have been killed by unknown gunmen in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, according to military officials, in the latest attack to hit the troubled area.

"The armed forces mourn with great sadness and sorrow the five martyrs who were martyred in Sinai at the hands of disloyal fundamentalist elements, enemies of the nation and religion," the military said in a statement on Monday.

The statement did not give any further details about the location or the circumstances surrounding the incident, but online media reports said the attack happened late on Sunday.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the deadly incident.

OPINION: Sinai insurgency - An enduring risk

An armed movement in the rugged and thinly populated Sinai Peninsula has gained pace since the military toppled President Mohamed Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood, in mid-2013.

Since then, hundreds of police officers and soldiers have been killed in attacks.

Earlier in January, a truck-bomb attack on a checkpoint killed at least seven police officers in the city of El-Arish in northern Sinai.

In November, a car-bomb attack on a checkpoint in Sinai killed eight soldiers.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group's Egyptian branch in the Sinai Peninsula has also carried out several such attacks over the past two years.

The Sinai Peninsula borders Israel and Palestine's Gaza Strip. </s> CAIRO (Reuters) - Seven militants were killed and 15 Egyptian military personnel were killed or wounded in a clash in North Sinai on Saturday, the Egyptian military said.

The breakdown of military casualties was not immediately clear. However, two security sources told Reuters that the some of the injuries were serious.

Security forces launched a campaign a year ago against Islamist militants focused on Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, and say they have killed several hundred militants since then.

“Combing operations and the pursuit and elimination of the terrorist elements in the area where the incident took place is ongoing,” the military spokesman said in a statement.

The security sources said operations were taking place under aerial cover.

Since 2013, Egyptian security forces have battled Islamist militants, who have repeatedly targeted security checkpoints and Egypt’s Christian minority.
Forty-seven insurgents and five Egyptian soldiers are killed in a gunfight in the Sinai Peninsula.