(AP) Maggie Michael and Ashraf Sweilam - Egyptian troops and tanks backed by helicopter gunships swept through villages in northern Sinai near the border with Gaza on Monday, the third day of a major offensive against Islamic extremists, a military official said. So far, 20 suspected militants have been killed and 20 captured in the operation. Mustafa Hegazy, a political adviser to Egyptian interim president, told the Egyptian TV station Al-Hayat that under Morsi rule, the number of militants in Sinai had jumped to 7,000. On Sunday, Ansar Jerusalem, an al-Qaeda-inspired militant group, claimed responsibility for the failed assassination attempt last week on Egyptian Interior Minister Gen. Mohammed Ibrahim, describing the Cairo attack as a "suicide" car bomb.
2013-09-10 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive