Two militants who allegedly had been plotting terror attacks were killed in an exchange of gunfire with security forces in the Jalbana area of North Sinai June 30. The Egyptian news reports quoted a statement by the Interior Ministry that weapons and ammunition were seized during a police raid that “thwarted terrorist attacks planned to coincide with the seventh anniversary of the June 30 Revolution.”
The ongoing North Sinai war on terrorism has inflicted a heavy toll on the military and police — the primary targets of the Islamic State-affiliated insurgency in Sinai. It has also claimed the lives of dozens of civilians as the violence spilled over from Sinai into the rest of the country. News of the deaths was both a reminder of the authorities' failure so far to restore security and stability (despite President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's repeated promises to end the unrest) and a further example of the extrajudicial killings and other rights abuses recurrent since Sisi decreed a sweeping anti-terrorism law in mid-2015. Shielding the military and police from prosecution for disproportionate use of force, the law has allowed security forces to escape accountability for such actions.
