2nd LD: Egypt refers 292 to military trial over Sinai terrorism

Egypt's prosecution referred Sunday 292 suspect terrorists to military trial over charges of carrying out terror activities in restive Sinai Peninsula and planning to assassinate President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, official MENA news agency reported.

According to the report, the defendants belong to the so-called "Sinai State," a Sinai-based group loyal to the regional Islamic State (IS) militant group, which claimed responsibility for most of the anti-government terrorist attacks over the past a few years.

Egypt has been facing a rising wave of terrorist operations and bomb attacks, mostly in North Sinai province, since the military removed former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to mass protests against his one-year rule and his blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood group.

On Nov. 4, a military brigadier general was assassinated by three terrorists outside his home in North Sinai, while a judge survived a blast in Cairo during the day.

Earlier in mid-October, also in North Sinai, at least 20 soldiers were killed in a series of blasts and armed attacks, while the security forces retaliated by killing around 100 militants and wounding 40 others.

While anti-government attacks over the past a few years killed hundreds of police and military men, security raids killed around 1,200 militants and arrested a similar number of suspects in North Sinai as part of the country's "war against terrorism" declared by then-military chief and current President Sisi. Endit