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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Egypt army attacks Sinai militants | Egypt army attacks Sinai militants |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| The Egyptian army has launched a major offensive against militants in Sinai. | The Egyptian army has launched a major offensive against militants in Sinai. |
| Eyewitnesses told the BBC that tanks, armoured vehicles and troops - backed by Apache helicopters - had attacked the militants in towns along the border with the Gaza Strip. | Eyewitnesses told the BBC that tanks, armoured vehicles and troops - backed by Apache helicopters - had attacked the militants in towns along the border with the Gaza Strip. |
| The operation is said to be the biggest of its kind in recent years in Sinai. | The operation is said to be the biggest of its kind in recent years in Sinai. |
| Meanwhile, Egyptian soldiers have discovered mortars and other explosives on a railway line near the Suez Canal, the state news agency reports. | |
| There have been frequent attacks on pipelines and security forces since the uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011. | There have been frequent attacks on pipelines and security forces since the uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011. |
| On Thursday a powerful explosion targeted Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim as he left his Cairo house for work. He survived unscathed, but officials say another person died. | |
| Column of tanks | Column of tanks |
| A military official, who spoke anonymously, told the Associated Press that the army would "clean" the areas in Sinai where Islamic militants operated. | A military official, who spoke anonymously, told the Associated Press that the army would "clean" the areas in Sinai where Islamic militants operated. |
| This included the towns of Rafah and Sheikh Zuweyid, as well as nearby villages, he said. | |
| A witness told the news agency he had seen a column of tanks, trucks carrying infantry, rocket launchers and other military vehicles. Smoke was also seen rising from the area. | |
| A security official said "dozens" of insurgent suspects had been killed and wounded. | |
| "This is by far the largest operation we have seen and the one we have been waiting for,'' Sheikh Hassan Khalaf, a tribal leader from the targeted area, told the Associated Press. |