![\"tanks](\"https:\/\/ichef-1.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/5F89\/production\/_99975442_tankies.jpg\")
Army vehicles took up positions on the western bank of the Suez Canal<\/span><\/figure>\nA spokesman said they found a communication centre, an explosives laboratory and six drug farms.<\/p>\n
The Sinai peninsula, where Egypt’s most active militants are based, borders Israel and the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n
Last week the New York Times reported that unmarked Israeli aircraft were carrying out covert strikes in Egypt with the Egyptian president’s approval.<\/p>\n
Egypt denied this, and Israel declined to comment.<\/p>\n
The operation will also target militants in the Nile Delta and in western Egypt.<\/p>\n
Who are the Sinai militants?<\/strong><\/p>\n The IS Sinai affiliate, Sinai Province, has said it carried out many deadly attacks, mostly targeting the army.\u00a0It also claimed the downing of a Russian airliner in October 2015, killing all 224 people on board.<\/p>\n Formerly known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, the group first appeared in September 2011 and rebranded itself with an IS pledge of allegiance in November 2014.<\/p>\n The group generally targets Egyptian security forces in northern Sinai but also claimed an attack on a tourist site in southern Sinai in April of last year.<\/p>\n In the first part of 2017 IS stepped up attacks against Christians in Sinai and elsewhere in Egypt, claiming two deadly attacks on churches in Tanta and Alexandria on 9 April.<\/p>\n IS started to scale up its attacks in Sinai from September 2017 onwards, as it started losing territory in Iraq and Syria.<\/p>\n In addition to its attacks on Christians, IS has adopted a threatening tone against Sufi Muslims, whom it considers to be heretics.<\/p>\n The head of the IS religious police in Sinai had previously said that Sufis who did not “repent” would be killed. IS has beheaded a number of Sufi men whom it accused of “sorcery”.<\/p>\n The group did not say it had carried out November’s attack on the al-Rawda mosque in northern Sinai but it is widely believed to have been responsible. Locals said the mosque was popular among Sufis.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Egypt says it has killed 16 Islamist militants in an operation in Sinai in the north-east of the country. Dozens of targets including weapons dumps, motorbikes and cars were also destroyed, a statement from the military says. Four militants and 30 suspects were arrested, it adds. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has ordered the military to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":400577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"map](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/D4B9\/production\/_99975445_egyptcairosinai4640914.jpg\")
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