Attacks target militants in Sinai

CAIRO – Egyptian helicopter gunships and tanks pounded suspected hideouts and weapon caches of Islamic militants on Saturday in the northern Sinai Peninsula in what locals said was the largest operation in the lawless region for years. Nine militants and two soldiers were killed during the raids, security officials said.

Officials said the military was hunting hundreds of militants believed to be responsible for a series of attacks in the region they overran after the fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011. The militants, the officials said, belong to a number of well-known al-Qaida-inspired groups that seek the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate in northern Sinai, a region bordering Israel and the Gaza Strip.

Attacks in the region have increased following the July 3 military coup that toppled President Mohammed Morsi, an Islamist, prompting the military offensive.

Residents said they saw winding columns of trucks and armored vehicles pour into the area early Saturday. Some said they hadn’t seen soldiers on foot in their villages in decades. Communications were jammed for hours, as authorities seized control of two telephone exchanges.

Military helicopters hovered above a dozen villages concentrated near the border towns of Rafah and Sheikh Zuweyid, security officials said. Airstrikes targeted shacks believed to be gathering points of militants, they said. Soldiers later stormed homes searching for fighters.

“Successive strikes are aimed at causing paralysis of the militant groups and cutting communications between each other,” a security official said.