Six militants were killed and another ten were arrested by Egyptian security forces on late Sunday in the North Sinai border town of Rafah.
Security forces also destroyed a number of homes and other spaces used as dens by militants, according to state-run MENA.
Border guards stationed in Rafah, in cooperation with the Armed Forces Engineering Authority, destroyed five smuggling tunnels connecting to Rafah, bringing the total number of smuggling tunnels destroyed to 1,715, according to an official army statement. In the process, six Palestinians and three Egyptians attempting to enter Egypt were arrested.
Attacks on police and military targets in the restive Sinai Peninsula have been on the rise since former president Morsi’s ouster last summer. Dozens of attacks have been claimed by Al-Qaeda-inspired militant group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis (ABM) both in Sinai and across Egypt.
Last Thursday, ABM released a video purportedly showing the beheading of four men whom they claim collaborated with Israeli intelligence. The four decapitated corpses were found in Sinai last month.
In the video, ABM showed nine masked men standing, one of whom was reading the accusations against the accused while the rest were armed. The accused knelt on the ground in front of them. After being interrogated, the four men were beheaded.
