The Egyptian Armed Forces announced late on Thursday the killing of 13 terrorists from takfiri groups in an exchange of fire during counter-terrorism operations in central and northern Sinai.

Takfiri is a term used to refer to certain hardline Sunni Muslims who see other Muslims as infidels, often as a justification for fighting them.

Also during the incident, nine members of the Armed Forces were either killed or injured, Army Spokesman Gharib Abdel-Hafez said in a statement, without identifying the exact number of deaths or the victims’ ranks.

As a result of the operations, the Armed Forces seized 15 automatic rifles and quantities of ammunition of different calibres, Abdel-Hafez said.

Also, 20 automatic rifle magazines, a number of motorbikes used by the takfiri elements to carry out their terrorist operations, two mobile phones, two field glasses and sums of money in various currencies were confiscated, the spokesman added.

“The Armed Forces have taken in this regards all legal measures and presented the [seized objects] to the relevant investigative authorities,” Abdel-Hafez noted.

“The Armed Forces affirm the continuation of their efforts to pursue terrorist elements so that the people of Egypt can enjoy security and safety,” the spokesman added.

The Egyptian Army has announced the killing of hundreds of takfiri elements since the launch of Comprehensive Operation Sinai 2018 (COS 2018) launched in February of that year.

These latest operations, which the Army announced on the first of August, resulted in the killing of 89 “very dangerous takfiri elements” in North Sinai.