Egyptian army kills perpetrators of Sinai truck convoy attack

The Egyptian army has killed 10 "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) elements who ambushed a convoy of cement trucks in central North Sinai last Thursday (November 9th), security sources told Al-Mashareq.

The army has been conducting a crackdown in central North Sinai since the attack, in which ISIS fighters killed nine of the convoy's drivers as they headed for an army factory and set their trucks ablaze.

"The 3rd Field Army set up several ambushes in central North Sinai and seized five vehicles loaded with materials used in making explosives," said army spokesman Col. Tamer al-Refai.

"Five [militants] also have been arrested for monitoring army forces’ movements," he said, adding that six ISIS elements riding in a pickup truck were killed in an airstrike in al-Hasna.

In other clashes in Sheikh Zuweid, the army killed four militants and took their bodies into custody pending their identification, al-Refai said.

'Decisive phase' of anti-ISIS crackdown

The army has kicked off a decisive phase in its war on ISIS affiliate Wilayat Sinai, military expert Maj. Gen. Mohammed Munir Hamed told Al-Mashareq.

"Continuous crackdowns have prompted the group's elements to change the places of their movements and to return to al-Hasna, which they had left a long time ago," he said.

"Wilayat Sinai now is resorting to guerrilla war tactics, as evidenced by its targeting of truck drivers on the International Highway in central North Sinai," he added.

"The group’s plans are now focusing on thefts and trade in contrabands in order to secure money for its elements, in view of the army’s crackdowns on their sources of financing and cutoff of their arms supply routes," Hamed said.

ISIS elements in Sinai are struggling with low morale, he added, noting that this has emboldened rival al-Qaeda affiliated groups such as Jund al-Islam to declare open war on ISIS and its fighters.

Jund al-Islam "would not have dared to make such a move before", Hamed said.