Egypt military helicopters hit Sinai militants: Security.

Egypt military helicopters hit Sinai militants: Security.

The wreckage of a burnt car is seen after assaults on militant
 targets by the Egyptian Army, in a village on the outskirts of
 Sheikh Zuweid, near the city of el-Arish in Egypt's Sinai peninsula
 September 10, 2013. (Reuters)

Cairo | AFP | 13 Sep 2013 :: Egyptian military helicopters on Friday carried out air strikes on Islamist militant positions in Sinai, two days after suicide bombers killed six soldiers in the restive peninsula, security sources said.

Apache helicopters targeted hideouts and vehicles used by the militants near the town of Sheikh Zuwayid in northern Sinai, the sources said.

On Wednesday, two car bombs targeting the military intelligence headquarters in the town of Rafah and a nearby checkpoint killed six soldiers and the two militants who drove the vehicles.

A little known jihadist group in Sinai claimed responsibility for the attacks in the town bordering the Gaza Strip.

Jund al-Islam, or Islam’s Soldiers in English, made the claim in a statement posted on militant Islamist forums.

The group accused the Egyptian military of targeting “unarmed Muslims” in its campaign to quell an Islamist militant insurgency in north Sinai.

The military has poured troops and armour into Sinai to crush the insurgency which surged after the army overthrew Egypt’s Islamist president Mohammad Mursi on July 3.

A subsequent crackdown on Islamists left hundreds killed and more than 2,000 arrested across the country.(Courtesy:Al Arabiya)

Egypt’s Sinai emerges as new theater for jihad.

Egypt’s Sinai emerges as new theater for jihad.

Peninsula becoming a hotbed for terror groups since the ouster of Islamist president Morsi

Egyptian Army personnel supervise the destruction of tunnels
between Egypt and the Gaza Strip at the border, near the town
 of Rafah, northern Sinai, Egypt, Tuesday Sept. 3, 2013
 (photo credit: AP/AP Television)

CAIRO  | AP | 04 Sep 2013 ::  An Egyptian doctor once close to Osama bin Laden is bringing together multiple al-Qaida-inspired militant groups in Egypt’s Sinai to fight the country’s military, as the lawless peninsula emerges as a new theater for jihad, according to Egyptian intelligence and security officials.

There have been other signs of a dangerous shift in the longtime turmoil in the peninsula bordering Israel and Gaza since the military’s July 3 ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, the officials say. With the shifts, Sinai’s instability is becoming more regionalized and threatens to turn into an outright insurgency.

Sinai has seen an influx of foreign fighters the past two months, including several hundred Yemenis. Several militant groups that long operated in the area to establish an Islamic Caliphate and attack their traditional enemy Israel have joined others in declaring formally that their objective now is to battle Egypt’s military.

Also, Sinai has become the focus of attention among major regional jihadi groups. Al-Qaida’s branch in Iraq last weekend called on Egyptians to fight the military, as did al-Qaida’s top leader, Ayman al-Zawahri. The militant considered the most dangerous man in the Sahara — one-eyed terror leader Moktar Belmoktar, a former member of al-Qaida’s North Africa branch — joined forces with a Mali-based jihadi group last month and vowed attacks in Egypt.

Topping the most wanted list in Sinai is Ramzi Mawafi, a doctor who joined al-Qaida in Afghanistan in the 1990s. Mawafi, 61, escaped from an Egyptian prison in 2011 in a massive jailbreak that also sprung free Morsi and more than a dozen Muslim Brotherhood members during the chaos of the uprising against autocrat Hosni Mubarak.(Courtesy: Times of Israel)

Egypt army says 60 militants in Sinai killed.

Egypt army says 60 militants in Sinai killed.

More than 20 police and soldiers have also died in clashes in the month since the military coup that ousted Mohammed Morsi

Egyptian armored vehicles in Sinai (photo credit:
 screen capture AlJazeeraEnglish/YouTube

CAIRO | AP | 07 Aug 2013 ::  Egypt’s military spokesman says 60 militants have been killed and 103 arrested on the Sinai Peninsula as part of the army’s operations there over the past month.

Col. Ahmed Mohammed Ali released the figures Wednesday on his official Facebook page. He did not name any of suspects killed or detained.

The Facebook post said that authorities also destroyed 102 smuggling tunnels to the Palestinian Gaza Strip during this time.

The military’s figures could not be independently verified.

More than 20 policemen and soldiers have been killed in near daily clashes in Sinai since President Mohammed Morsi’s ouster July 3. About a dozen civilians have also been killed in violence there.

Emboldened militants have increased the frequency of their attacks on the army on the peninsula to exploit the political turmoil.(Courtesy:The Times of Israel)