Egyptian security forces said Saturday that 21 terrorists were killed in clashes within the restive Sinai peninsula, where Islamic State group-affiliated militants have waged a long-running insurgency amidst constant crackdown by the police and military.

The government said two terrorist groups had been planning attacks during the major Islamic holiday – Eid al-Fitr – which starts in Egypt on Sunday.

The interior ministry said in a statement that police raided two hideouts of “terrorist elements” in North Sinai governorate, sparking a gun-battle in which two officers were also wounded.

Security forces had found automatic weapons and suicide belts in the hideouts.

Security forces have been battling a long-running insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula — in Egypt’s northeast — that is spearheaded by a local affiliate of the terrorist Islamic State group.

The fighting intensified after the military’s 2013 ouster of President Mohamed Morsi.

In February 2018, security forces launched a nationwide operation against militants, focused on North Sinai. 

Around 950 suspected militants have been killed in the region along with dozens of security personnel, according to official figures.

Forces allied with Libya’s internationally recognized  government have seized the  Al-Watiya airbase, a key military base on the outskirts of the country’s capital from fighters loyal to renegade military commander General  Khalifa Haftar.

Military spokesman Mohamed Gnunu said in a Twitter post on Monday the forces of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) had taken over the entirety of the base near the Tunisian border.

The announcement by the administration of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj came after a month-long counteroffensive that has seen forces allied to it drive Haftar’s troops out of much of Libya’s western coast.

Haftar launched  an offensive Haftar  to take Tripoli in a lightning operation in April 2019, but his forces have been mired in fighting ever since resulting in a stalemated conflict that has killed more than 1,000 people.

It’s a symbolic success for the counter-offensive that the GNA has been mounting against Gen. Haftar’s forces for the past month.

The airbase has been an important asset for Gen Haftar for several years – its loss is another setback to his drive against the GNA from his power base in eastern Libya.

Libya a major oil producer, has been mired in chaos since 2011 when longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in a NATO-backed uprising.

It is now split between two rival administrations: The GNA in Tripoli and the eastern-based House of Representatives allied withGeneral  Haftar and his  Libyan National Army.

Egypt’s military said Friday seven suspected militants were killed in a raid carried out as part of its operations against insurgents in the restive Sinai Peninsula.

“The armed forces carried out a targeted operation that resulted in the killing of seven takfiris,” the army said in a statement, employing a term used by Egyptian authorities for extremist Islamic militants.

The raid was part of “ongoing efforts of the armed forces to combat terrorism and based on intelligence indicating the presence of a terrorist outpost on a farm in North Sinai”, the statement added.

One suspected militant died during the raid, while six others were killed after troops tracked them to a hideout, an AFP report said.

The military also found 10 explosive devices, four explosive belts, several rifles and ammunition as well as various mobile phones and walkie-talkies as a result of the operation.

Security forces have been battling a long-running Islamist insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula — in Egypt’s northeast — that is spearheaded by a local affiliate of the Islamic State group.

The fighting intensified after the military’s 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.
In February 2018, security forces launched a nationwide operation against militants, focused on North Sinai.

More than 930 suspected militants have been killed in the region along with dozens of security personnel, according to official figures