Special to WorldTribune.com

CAIRO — Egypt has reported the killing of another Al Qaida commander in the Sinai Peninsula.

Officials said the Egyptian Army and Central Security Forces killed a commander of Ansar Beit Maqdis in northeastern Sinai.

The officials identified the target as Silmi Misbah, believed responsible for recruitment and training for Ansar.

“Egyptian special forces received advanced intelligence of his whereabouts,” Egyptian military spokesman Col. Ahmed Ali said.

Ali said Misbah, also known as Abu Khaled, was tracked as he headed to an attack near Rafah, located along the border with the Hamas-ruled Gaza City. The spokesman said Abu Khaled and his associates, driving motorcycles, were killed.

Officials said Abu Khaled was linked to the Al Qaida attack on the Egyptian Frontier Corps in August 2012 in which 16 soldiers were killed. They said Abu Khaled commanded scores of Ansar fighters, many of them Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

Over the last month, Egypt has reported the death of nearly 10 senior
insurgents in Sinai. Most of the casualties, killed around Rafah, were
linked to Ansar.

Ansar, said to be cooperating with the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, has
been deemed the most active Islamist insurgency militia in Egypt. The group has claimed numerous attacks in Sinai as well as the African mainland, including an assassination attempt on
Egyptian Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim in September 2013.

The military-backed regime in Cairo has accused the Brotherhood of
supporting the revolt in Sinai. On Dec. 18, Egyptian prosecutors charged
Brotherhood leaders Mohammed Badie and Khairat Shater as well as ousted
President Mohammed Morsi with secretly cooperating with the
Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah as well as Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps.

  Abu Khaled, Al Qaida commander, Ansar Beit Maqdis, Col. Ahmed Ali, killed by Egyptian forces in Sinai, Rafah, riding a motorcycle, Silmi Misbah