PTI
CAIRO, SEPTEMBER 12
As many as 98 militants were killed in the blast on Friday, the fifth day of the campaign, army spokesperson Brigadier General Mohamed Samir said.
Nearly 100 militants were killed in an explosion during a major military campaign in the restive North Sinai governorate that also claimed the lives of four soldiers, the army said.
As many as 98 militants were killed in the blast on Friday, the fifth day of the campaign, army spokesperson Brigadier General Mohamed Samir said.Seven soldiers, including three officers, were injured.
23 suspected terrorists were also arrested, he said in a statement.
Eleven unlicensed vehicles and motorcycle were destroyed during the campaign, started recently by the army in the cities of Rafah, Sheikh Zwayed and Al-Arish against militants.
Egypt’s North Sinai has witnessed many violent attacks by militants since the January, 2011 revolution that toppled the ex-president Hosni Mubarak.
The attacks targeting police and military increased after the ouster of Islamist ex-president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 by military following massive protests against his rule.
Over 600 security personnel have been reported killed since then.
The military has launched security campaigns in the area, arrested suspects and demolished houses that belong to terrorists, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip.
Egypt`s PM, government resigns: Presidency
Egypt`s Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab and his cabinet resigned on Saturday, the presidency said, days after the agriculture minister was arrested over corruption.
“The prime minister handed the government`s resignation to the president who accepted it,” a statement said without giving a reason for the resignation.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi asked Mahlab to stay on as caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed, the statement added.
The announcement comes as Egypt is set to hold long-delayed legislative elections in phases from October 17 to December 2.
The elections had initially been scheduled for early 2014 but were delayed on legal grounds amid charges from rights groups of repressive measures during a crackdown on the Islamist opposition.
On Monday, the prime minister`s office announced that agriculture minister Salah Helal had been arrested after being told to step aside on the orders of Sisi in connection with an investigation into corruption.
Helal and his chief of staff were believed to have “requested and received” bribes from a businessman, through an intermediary, to legalise the purchase of a property bought from the state.
Mahlab`s 31-member government was sworn in March 2014 and tasked with organising a presidential election which Sisi, the previous army chief, won in May of that year.
Sisi`s election victory came almost a year after he deposed his Islamist predecessor Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
The upcoming polls will come more than two years after Sisi toppled Morsi, whose now-banned Muslim Brotherhood swept the last general election in 2011.
