CAIRO, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian army announced on Sunday that it has killed 52 "highly dangerous terrorists" over the past few days in North Sinai province northeast of the capital Cairo as part of the ongoing "Sinai 2018" anti-terror campaign.
The terrorists had eight machine guns, three explosive devices and amounts of ammunition in their possession.
"Joint raids by the armed forces and the police resulted in the arrest of another 49 highly dangerous extremists in North and Central Sinai," military spokesman Tamer al-Refaie said in the statement.
He added that the raids also destroyed 26 hideouts and storehouses belonging to the terrorists and defused 64 explosive devices planted to target the forces.
Meanwhile, the air forces destroyed 15 vehicles loaded with weapons and ammunition as they were attempting to infiltrate into Egypt via its western borders with eastern Libya, according to the statement.
"Another 17 vehicles have also been destroyed within the Southern Military Region," the military spokesman added.
Since its launch in February, the "Sinai 2018" anti-terror operation has killed about 400 militants while more than 30 soldiers died during the confrontations.
Egypt has been fighting a wave of terrorism that killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers, as well as civilians, since the military removed former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to mass protests against his one-year rule and his currently outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.
A Sinai-based group loyal to the regional Islamic State terrorist group claimed responsibility for most of the terrorist attacks in Egypt over the past few years.
Meanwhile, the security forces killed hundreds of terrorists and arrested thousands of suspects during the country's anti-terror war declared by re-elected President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, the army chief then, following Morsi's ouster.
