Armed forces killed "11 terrorists" in an exchange of fire with militants during the period from 3 to 5 January. Two of them were killed in Al-Arish; eight in Sheikh Zuweid and one in Rafah, according to a Tuesday statement by the military spokesman. The statement further read that the armed forces thwarted an attempt to bomb Sheikh Zuweid police station by a suicide bomber. The armed forces destroyed 22 smuggling tunnels, the statement noted. Destruction of smuggling tunnels is one of the counterterrorism measures undertaken by armed forces as these tunnels are used for infiltration of militants and smuggling weapons in and out of Sinai. The armed forces are establishing a buffer zone with a total width of 5km to ensure that no underground smuggling tunnel could bypass the area. On Monday a mortar attack in Al-Arish injured two policemen, while one day earlier an army sergeant was killed on Sunday as he was defusing a bomb in North Sinai. In December, a bomb went off in Al-Arish airport leaving a soldier and an officer killed. Insurgent activities targeting security personnel, particularly in the restive Sinai Peninsula, have been on the rise since the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
