Egypt troops arrest dozens in Sinai crackdown

Egyptian security forces have arrested a further 99 people in a crackdown launched after last month’s killing of 16 soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula.

Egyptian security forces have arrested a further 99 people in a crackdown launched after last month’s killing of 16 soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula.

State media said 54 fugitives had been detained in Ismailiya, a city on the Suez Canal, while 15 fugitives and 30 suspects had been held in North Sinai.

Interior Minister Ahmed Gamal al-Din also said seven suspects in the border guards’ deaths had been identified.

One of them was an Egyptian member of a dormant local jihadist cell, he said. Mr Gamal al-Din did not mention the nationalities of the other suspects in his interview with the al-Akhbar newspaper, nor say if any of the seven had been detained.

He said security forces were still trying to find members of “disparate” militant groups, some of whom followed the “takfiri” doctrine, under which radical Islamists believe Muslim society has reverted to a state of unbelief, legitimising rebellion against the state and attacks on Muslims.

Joint raids by the army and police have seen tanks, armoured fighting vehicles, attack helicopters and thousands of troops deployed.