Egypt: Security forces kill eight militants in Al-Arish January 9

Event

On Tuesday, January 9, the Egyptian Ministry of Interior announced that security forces recently killed eight militants in Al-Arish (North Sinai province). The security forces reportedly engaged the militants in a gunfight when raiding a suspected hideout in the Al-Risa neighborhood of the city; the militants were reportedly planning to launch improvised explosive device (IED) attacks against security forces in the area. Additional security forces raids on suspected militant positions are expected in North Sinai province in the coming weeks.

Context

This latest raid comes shortly after suspected Islamic State-Sinai Province (IS-SP) militants killed four people, including three police officers, and wounded one other person near Al-Arish on January 4.

Egypt remains under a state of emergency, originally declared following IS attacks on churches in Alexandria and Tanta, which killed at least 47 people on Palm Sunday in April 2017.

The Sinai Peninsula has been the epicenter of frequent attacks by IS-affiliated militants since 2013 - usually targeting security forces or minority Coptic Christians. On November 29, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi ordered the Egyptian military to stabilize the restive Sinai peninsula within the next three months, telling security forces to use "all brute force necessary" to restore security in the region. Previously, Al-Sisi warned that the risk of terrorism had increased in Egypt as IS's major territorial losses in Iraq and Syria have caused many of its militants to travel to Egypt. Such groups operate on a smaller scale outside the peninsula, including in the Nile Delta.

Advice

Due to the prevailing threat of terrorism, individuals throughout Egypt should report any suspicious objects or behavior to the authorities and always be on guard when visiting sites deemed particularly vulnerable to an attack (public transportation, train stations, ports, airports, public or government buildings, embassies or consulates, international organizations, schools and universities, religious sites, markets, hotels and restaurants frequented by foreigners/Westerners, festivals, etc.). Some governments advise their nationals against all travel to the Sinai Peninsula due to the persistent terrorist threat.