CAIRO: Egypt’s military said Saturday it had killed 8 jihadists in air strikes in the Western Desert, as it leads a major campaign against IS.
“The air force targeted the terrorist base… the completed operation has killed eight very dangerous terrorists”, the military said in a statement.  The military said “other people” had been arrested during the operation, but did not give details.  “The terrorist cell …. planned hostile actions that aimed to destabilize the country’s security and stability”, the army said, without elaborating.  Egypt launched an operation dubbed “Sinai 2018” a year ago, in a bid to dislodge IS from the northeastern Sinai Peninsula and other parts of the country, including the Western Desert bordering Libya.
The security forces regularly announce that alleged jihadists have been killed, but rarely identify the deceased, the groups they support, or the operations they were purportedly planning.  It is impossible to verify information on military operations through independent sources.  Groups including Human Rights Watch have denounced extrajudicial killings, particularly in the Sinai peninsula. Operation Sinai was launched on February 9 last year and was supposed to last three months, but is still ongoing.