Egyptian Army: 450 Jihadists Killed In Eight-Month Sinai Offensive

The Egyptian army claimed that some 450 jihadists have been killed in a major offensive against an Islamic State-affiliated group in the Sinai Peninsula. Cairo launched the operation, dubbed “Sinai 2018,” in February to rid the largely lawless territory of terrorists following an attack on a mosque that killed more than 300 people. Egypt has been waging an intense campaign to counter a jihadist insurgency since 2013, when then-president Mohamed Morsi was ousted and his Muslim Brotherhood subsequently blacklisted. According to foreign media reports, Israel has aided the Egyptian effort through intelligence sharing and by conducting air strikes of its own. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Tuesday extended by three months a countrywide state of emergency that was imposed last year following two suicide bombings at churches claimed by ISIS.