ISIS Leader in Egypt’s Sinai Killed in Airstrike

CAIRO—Egypt’s military says the leader of the Islamic State’s affiliate has been killed in the Sinai Peninsula.

A posting on the Facebook page of the military’s chief spokesman, Brig-Gen Mohammed Samir, says Abu Doaa al-Ansari was killed in an operation guided by “accurate intelligence.”

Thursday’s posting says counterterrorism forces backed by war planes carried out the operation south of the coastal city of el-Arish.

It says several of al-Ansari’s aides, along with 45 other members of the militant group, were also killed in the operation. The statement didn’t say when the operation took place.

Egyptian forces have been battling Islamic militants in Sinai for years but the insurgency there has grown deadlier since the 2013 ouster by the military of the country’s Islamist president.

“These successful operations avenge our martyrs, and keep the punishment of all militants and their leaders on track,” an Egypt army spokesman said in a Facebook post.

The Sinai branch of the ISIS terrorist group claimed responsibility for the downing of a Metrojet passenger plane in October 2015, killing all 224 people on board. The militants also shot down an Egyptian military helicopter in January 2014, killing five. 

The Sinai Peninsula borders the Palestinian Gaza Strip and Israel.

 Epoch Times contributed to this report.