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Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/16/us-egypt-sinai-specialreport-idUSBREA2F05020140316
Egyptian Militants Outwit Army in Sinai Battlefield
(Reuters) Egypt's army says it is crushing Islamist militants in the Sinai Peninsula, but in the region's villages and towns a victory for the state feels a long way off. In a visit to eight villages in Northern Sinai last week, a Reuters reporter saw widespread destruction caused by army operations, but also found evidence that a few hundred militants are successfully playing a cat-and-mouse game with the Arab world's biggest army and are nowhere near defeat. Residents say militants have seized control of about a third of the villages in the region, but that the number of fighters has decreased in the past few months, partly because many fighters have moved towards the Nile Valley, bringing the conflict much closer to Egypt's main population centers. "At the start of the fighting we used to hide in the mountains, but now we are present in the villages among the residents because it is safer there," said S.A., a senior militant.