Egyptian security officials said on Friday commando fighters killed 17 militants on the police wanted list during crackdowns against terrorist hotbeds in southern Sheikh Zuwaid, North Sinai, Al-Bawaba News reported. Since former president Mohamed Morsi was ousted July 2013, a series of deadly blasts claimed hundreds of lives among security personnel and civilians, mostly in the restive Sinai peninsula, attacks for which the IS offshoot Wilayat Sinai has repeatedly claimed responsibility. The Military Supreme Council (MSC) declared in Sep. 2014 a new anti-terror strategy including the construction of a buffer zone on eastern borders with the Islamist run Gaza Strip where militants and weapons are reportedly smuggled into Sinai.