A statement released by the military spokesperson said that the Air Forces destroyed three four-wheel-drive vehicles and a number of hideouts that terrorist groups used to plan their attacks.

The Army also destroyed a camouflaged four-wheel drive vehicle used by terrorists in attacks on the Armed Forces and confiscated two RPGs, three multi-purpose machine guns, one pistol, and 60 bullets of different calibres, the statement added.

The military also said it found during the post-raid inspection of Mokataaa village a number of weapons and large caches of ammunition, magazines, explosive charges, suicide belts, TNT explosives, 21 mobile phones, three laptops and one tablet.

“The Armed Forces continue with relentless determination their sincere national efforts to eradicate terrorism and pursue it in all strategic directions,” the statement stressed.

The Armed Forces’ goal is to achieve security, safety and stability for the people of Egypt, the statement added.

On 7 May, the Egyptian Armed Forces announced the death of an officer and 10 soldiers as well as the injury of five others after foiling an attack launched by a group of terrorists on a water lifting station in western Sinai.

A branch of the terrorist group Islamic State (IS) – that was formerly known as Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis – claimed responsibility for the 7 May attack, which was the first major terrorist attack in North Sinai in recent years.

A day after the attack, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi directed the Armed Forces during a meeting of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to continue purging North Sinai of terrorists.

On Wednesday, the Army killed seven terrorists in an ambush near a security checkpoint. However, an officer and four soldiers were also killed, while two others were injured.

In 2018, the Armed Forces launched a major counter-terrorist drive dubbed “Comprehensive Operation Sinai 2018” that succeeded in almost eradicating terrorism from North Sinai as well as the Nile Delta and desert areas.

As a result, the rate of terrorist attacks in North Sinai has declined in the past few years following massive and successive security and military operations.