Special to WorldTribune.com

Egypt continued its battle against insurgents in North Sinai on June 17 as security forces foiled an attack, killed seven militants and destroyed a cache of weapons.

Islamists in North Sinai have killed hundreds of Egyptian police and soldiers since the overthrow of the pro-Muslim Brotherhood regime of Mohammed Morsi in 2013.

Militant jihadists linked to Al Qaida Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) have been responsible for most of the attacks on Egyptian forces.

[Related: ISIL brutality prompts Sinai tribes to join Egypt’s offensive against militant Islamists, May 10.]

In the June 17 operation, Egypt’s army said it acted on intelligence that “terrorist elements” were transferring rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns and C4 explosives from Rafah to the town of Sheikh Zuweid in a plot to launch an attack on security forces.

An army spokesman announced that Egypt had foiled the attack on his Facebook page on June 17. The announcement came just hours after a policeman was killed and four others were wounded when their armored vehicle hit a roadside bomb in El Arish, Sinai’s provincial capital.

In May, Egypt executed six members of Sinai Province for an attack on soldiers near Cairo last year, their lawyer said.

  Egypt kills seven militants as Army’s N. Sinai campaign continues, ISIL, Rafah, Sheikh Zuweid, WorldTribune.com