4 soldiers, 20 militants killed in Egypt's Sinai raids

 The Egyptian military said on Saturday that at least four Egyptian soldiers and 20 militants were killed during five-day anti-terror military raids in restive North Sinai Province bordering Israel and the Gaza Strip.

The raids launched in North Sinai and central Sinai also wounded seven militants, arrested 36 suspected terrorists, detonated five explosive devices and destroyed 28 hiding houses, eight vehicles, four warehouses of explosives and ammunition and two relevant workshops, military spokesman Tamer al-Refaay said in a statement.

Anti-government terror attacks have been growing in Egypt since the mid-2013 military removal of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in response to mass protests.

Later crackdown on Morsi's supporters left about 1,000 of them killed and thousands more in custody.

Since early January, at least 21 police and military personnel have been killed in blasts and confrontations in North Sinai and New Valley province, about 500 km south of the capital Cairo.

Most of the terrorist attacks were claimed by a Sinai-based militant group loyal to the Islamic State.

Security campaigns in Sinai killed over 1,300 militants and arrested a similar number of suspects over the past couple of years as part of the country's anti-terror war declared by former army chief and current President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi following Morsi's ouster.

source: Xinhua