Special to WorldTribune.com

CAIRO — Egypt has launched air strikes on suspected Islamic rebel strongholds in Sinai Peninsula.

The Egyptian Air Force sent U.S.-origin attack helicopters to attack suspected strongholds of Islamic State of Iraq and Levant in northern Sinai. Officials said at least 27 ISIL fighters, also called Ansar Beit Maqdis, were killed and another 20 injured.

“The operation combined precision intelligence and targeting,” an official said.

In late 2014, Egypt received 10 AH-64D helicopters, produced by Boeing. The helicopters arrived after a delay of more than a year by the administration of President Barack Obama.

The Egyptian Air Force was said to have focused on Sheik Zweid, deemed the leading stronghold of ISIL. Officials said most of ISIL casualties took place in Sheik Zweid, located near the border with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

The air strikes on Feb. 6 were deemed the biggest operation in Sinai in nearly a year. Officials said the air force employed the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, the most advanced rotary-wing combat platform in the fleet.

Egyptian media reports released vastly differing accounts of ISIL casualties. The death toll ranged from 47 fighters to a total of 151 — 25 of them non-Egyptians — during a three-day Egyptian Army operation.

  Egypt deploys long-delayed U.S. Apaches for major strikes on ISIL strongholds, WorldTribune.com