Egypt's military said Monday (March 19th) that 36 extremists, an officer and three soldiers had been killed over five days during an operation targeting "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) militants in Sinai, AFP reported.
The army launched the campaign on February 9th after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi gave it a three-month deadline to crush ISIS in the Sinai.
Security forces "eliminated 30 armed takfiri elements during a shootout with raiding forces" in northern and central Sinai, the military said in a statement.
A police shootout also left six "takfiri elements" dead, and destroyed "an extremely dangerous terrorist cell", it added.
Over the past five days, soldiers also arrested 345 people "including a number of extremely dangerous takfiri elements and fugitives", the statement said.
An officer and three soldiers were killed in the fighting, while three officers and five soldiers were injured, it added.
