A total of 16 militants were killed in North Sinai governorate on Tuesday morning during two raids by Egypt's security forces, according to the ministry of interior. This came after the National Security Apparatus identified two terrorist hideouts, with its members planning an attack against vital institutions and figures in the city of El-Arish, the ministry said. The first raid was carried on an empty plot of land in the Ubaidat district in El-Arish city, where ten terrorists were killed in a fire exchange with the security forces. The remaining six were also killed in a fire exchange in a hideout located in an under-construction house in Abu Eita district. Firearms, ammunition, and explosives were found at the hideout. The raids came one day after a suicide bombing was carried out at Al-Darb Al-Ahmar district in Giza, killing three policemen and injuring another five. On Saturday, Egypt's armed forces said that 15 Egyptian military personnel were killed during an attack on a security check point in North Sinai, while seven militants were also killed in the attack. Egypt launched ‘Operation Sinai 2018' in February of that year, which involved the army, navy, air force, and police in order to fight terrorism in Sinai. The main aim of ‘Operation Sinai 2018' is to target and destroy "terrorist, criminal elements, and organisations" in northern and central Sinai, parts of the Nile Delta, and the country's Western Desert.
