CAIRO, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian army killed one terrorist and destroyed five hideouts in the central part of restive North Sinai Province bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, the Egyptian military spokesman said in a statement on Saturday.
"The law enforcement forces of the Third Field Army managed to kill a highly dangerous terrorist element in Central Sinai with a machine gun, ammunition and magnifying goggles in his possession," said military spokesman Tamer al-Refaay in the statement.
The forces also detected and destroyed two vehicles, a motorbike and five hideouts containing a large amount of fuel and explosive materials belonging to the terrorists.
Last week, a military raid also killed a terrorist and arrested 22 suspects in the province.
A recently renewed partial three-month curfew is currently in effect in North Sinai, along with a similar renewed nationwide state of emergency.
North Sinai has been the center of terrorist attacks that killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers following the military removal of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to mass protests against his 12-month rule and his now-blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood group.
The attacks later extended to several other provinces including the capital Cairo and started to target the Coptic minority by church bombings.
Most of the attacks were claimed by the so-called Wilayat Sinai, a Sinai-based group affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) regional terrorist group.
Terrorism in Egypt did not stop at targeting security personnel and Copts, as a terrorist operation against a mosque in North Sinai's Arish city last month killed at least 310 Muslim worshippers and injured more than 120 others, marking the deadliest terror attack and the first against a Muslim mosque in Egypt's modern history.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the mosque attack.
In late November 2017, President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi ordered the army's chief of staff to restore security and stability in the restive part of the Sinai Peninsula within three months.
The Egyptian security forces have so far killed hundreds of terrorists and arrested thousands of suspects during the country's anti-terror war declared by Sisi, the army chief then, following Morsi's ouster.
