The Egyptian Armed Forces announced on Wednesday that the Second Field Army had successfully dismantled a "highly dangerous ‘takfiri' force" in North Sinai. Military spokesperson Tamer El-Refaei provided an update on his official Facebook page detailing the latest on "the law enforcement forces' efforts to combat terrorism in the past few days," stating that the Second Field Army along with the Air Force had cooperated to accomplish a variety of goals. According to the statement, 22 individuals suspected of allegiance to "takfiri forces" were detained. The statement also listed a number of tools allegedly belonging to extremists that had been discovered and destroyed by the military. A large number of hideouts, used for the storage of administrative tools and materials used for producing explosive devices, the statement said, were also found and destroyed. El-Refaei also pointed to attempts to tighten controls of the crossings leading to North Sinai as he revealed that two separate vehicles had been seized. The first, per the statement, contained motorcycle parts that were heading to the aforementioned "takfiri forces", while the second contained narcotics. There has been an ongoing state of emergency within North Sinai since then- interim president Adly Mansour declared it in 2013. Violent clashes have been ongoing since then, with Islamic State group- affiliated "Sinai Province" heavily involved. El-Refaei's statement, however, did not specify with whom these latest militants were associated.
