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ISIS Leader Killed in Sinai Airstrikes

CBN

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JERUSALEM, Israel – Egyptian security forces say they killed the head of an ISIS-affiliated terror group in the Sinai Peninsula during precision airstrikes near el-Arish, the largest city in the peninsula.

Abu Doaa Al-Ansari and several members of Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis died in the airstrikes, Egypt's Ahram.org website reported.

The announcement, posted on the army's official Facebook page, said counterterrorism forces working with the Egyptian air force, planned and carried out the airstrikes.

According to the report, 45 terrorists were killed in the strikes and dozens more injured. They also blew up weapons and ammunition depots and explosives warehouses.

In November 2015, Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, which claims responsibility for most of the attacks against Egyptian forces in the Sinai, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and its leader, Abu Bakr el-Baghdadi.

Egypt's military says it recently killed hundreds of Sinai-based jihadists in Operation Martyr's Right.

During the brief term of Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated President Mohammed Morsi, Islamic terror groups in the Sinai built up their operations. Hamas facilitated the transfer of weapons, explosives and fighters to terror cells embedded in the vast desert expanse.

Following Morsi's ouster, Egyptians elected former military chief Fattah el-Sisi. Under his leadership, Egyptian forces have been working to root out the terror cells there.

 

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