CAIRO, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian army announced Thursday it killed 13 more terrorists and arrested 86 suspects in North Sinai province in the latest operation of a comprehensive anti-terror campaign.
Since the launch of the "Sinai 2018" anti-terror campaign on Feb. 9, a total of 95 terrorists have been killed so far, the army said in a statement.
The Egyptian army has also arrested about 3,000 suspects, half of whom were released after investigation, destroyed about 1,400 terrorist hideouts and weapon storehouses, and defused 430 explosive devices.
Meanwhile, 10 soldiers have been killed and 13 others wounded during the large-scale anti-terror campaign.
Bordering Israel and the Gaza Strip, Egypt's North Sinai province has been the center of terrorist attacks that have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since the ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi by the military in July 2013.
Terror attacks later spread to other provinces and cities, including the capital Cairo, and started targeting the Coptic Christian minority via church bombings and shootings.
Egypt's terrorists even stormed a mosque in North Sinai's Arish city last November, killing at least 310 Muslim worshippers and injuring more than 120 others, in the deadliest terror attack and the first one against a mosque in Egypt's modern history.
Most of the terror attacks were carried out by the Sinai-based branch of the regional terrorist group Islamic State (IS), yet none has claimed responsibility for the mosque attack.
Following the mosque attack, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi ordered the army to restore security and stability in North Sinai within three months.
The "Sinai 2018" anti-terror operation came weeks ahead of Egypt's presidential election scheduled in late March, as Sisi is expected to easily win a second four-year term due to the absence of a strong rival in the race. Enditem
