Cairo — An Egyptian army captain has been killed by an improvised explosive device blast in North Sinai during a campaign to eliminate extremists, medics said on Monday.
The officer died Sunday evening after an explosion hit his vehicle west of the coastal city of Al Arish, a local medical source said.
The Egyptian army has since February been conducting a major operation focused on the Sinai Peninsula to wipe out extremists from Daesh.
The military says that over 250 suspected extremists and at least 35 soldiers had been killed in its “Sinai 2018” operation.
Extremists launched an insurgency in Sinai after the 2013 ouster of Egypt’s Islamist president Mohammad Mursi, who was forced out by the military in the face of mass protests against his rule.
