Armed Forces allegedly kill 26, injures 20 militants in North Sinai

Military forces succeeded in killing 26 "takfiri elements" in North Sinai on Wednesday, while wounding another 20 militants and remotely detonating two car bombs, according to claims made by a military spokesperson.

Making his claims to the Reuters news agency, an unnamed Armed Forces spokesperson reported that these operations against armed jihadis took place near the towns of Sheikh Zuwayed, Arish and Rafah.

This military source claimed that US-made Apache helicopters were used in aerial assaults which successfully targeted hideouts, residences, cars and motorcycles being used by members of the radical armed Islamist groups Ansar Beit al-Maqdes and Wilayet Sinai (said to be an affiliate of the Islamic State).

There is no way to independently verify these alleged reports issued by the security forces, as media outlets are largely prevented from reporting on these armed counter-terrorism campaigns. 

Rarely do the armed forces admit to collateral damage, or the deaths of civilian non-combatants in the course of their operations in North Sinai.

This same military source told Reuters that two car bombs had been remotely detonated near the towns of Arish and Rafah on Wednesday.

Moreover, this source claimed that five explosive devices planted along the Arish-Rafah Highway were successfully diffused by bomb squads.