Egypt's army kills 36 militants, defuses 38 bombs in Sinai

The Egyptian armed forces in cooperation with the police killed 36 militants and defused 38 explosive devices in their last two-day security campaign in the Arish, Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid cities of North Sinai province, the military spokesman said in a statement Saturday.

"The operations over the past two days ruined 25 houses and 57 huts of the terrorist elements, destroyed a large warehouse of explosives, seized 10 vehicles and five motorbikes used by the extremists in their attacks on security checkpoints," Military Spokesman Mohamed Samir said in the statement.

The raids come a couple of days after a similar four-day campaign killed last week 85 militants in North Siani's restive cities of Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid.

Egypt has been battling a growing wave of anti-government terrorism since the military removed former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 and later blacklisted his Muslim Brotherhood group.

A Sinai-based militant group loyal to the Islamic State (IS) regional terror group claimed responsibility for most of the terrorist operations that killed hundreds of police and military men over the past few years.

The Egyptian military has been launching a continuous massive security campaign in the peninsula that left about 1,000 militants killed and a similar number of suspects arrested.

The security raids in Sinai are part of the country's "war against terrorism" declared by ex-military chief and now President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi following Morsi's ouster. Endit