Egypt leading ‘vicious war on terror’; 23 radicals slain

ISMAILIA: Egypt launched airstrikes on extremist militant targets in the Sinai peninsula on Thursday, killing 23 militants a day after the deadliest clashes in the region in years, security sources said.

The sources said those killed had taken part in Wednesday’s fighting in which 100 militants and 17 soldiers, including four officers, were killed, according to the army spokesman.
Meanwhile, a newspaper close to the Egyptian government says the Daesh-linked militants who attacked troops in Sinai used sophisticated weaponry, including Russian-made Kornet anti-tank missiles.
In a graphic on its front page Thursday, El-Watan daily says the attackers also used mortars, anti-aircraft guns and other guided missiles.
The attack, which included a wave of suicide bombings and assaults on security installations by dozens of militants, was Sinai’s deadliest in decades.
Newspapers led their front pages with the attack, with many describing it as a “war.” Graphic photographs released by the military showed the bodies of extremists killed in the fighting who were wearing combat fatigues. "The armed forces are leading a vicious war against terrorism," the military said in a statement.
"We have the will and determination to root out this black terrorism," it added. "We will not stop until Sinai is cleansed of all the dens of terror."
The White House condemned the unprecedented wave of attacks, which came two days after state prosecutor Hisham Barakat was assassinated in a Cairo car bombing, the most senior government official killed in the insurgency.
"The United States stands resolutely with Egypt amidst the spate of terrorist attacks ...and will continue to assist Egypt in addressing these threats to its security," the US National Security Council said.
Egyptian state-owned newspapers rallied around the army. "Victory or martyrdom," said a front-page headline in Al-Ghomuriya. "Revenge," said a headline in Al-Akhbar.
The military spokesman posted photographs on his Facebook page of militants killed in the fighting.
Militants took over rooftops and fired rocket-propelled grenades at a police station in Sheikh Zuweid after mining its exits to block reinforcements, a police colonel said.
"For hours the terrorists moved freely in the streets which they had mined," Ayman Mohsen, a resident from Sheikh Zweid who witnessed Wednesday's clashes, said.
"This is war," a senior military officer said. "It's unprecedented, in the number of terrorists involved and the type of weapons they are using."
Two gunmen on a motorbike on Thursday shot dead an Egyptian traffic policeman in Fayoum, southwest of Cairo, police said.
"It's not putting in the right units. The groups need to be chased by special forces and what the army is doing is that it is deploying regiments. Sending F-16s does not work," said Professor Mathieu Guidere, a specialist on radical groups at France's University of Toulouse.