(MENAFN) In its previously announced operation in Sinai, Egypt said it has killed 16 Islamist militants, destroyed dozens of weapons dumps, motorbikes and cars, according to a statement from the military.

Four militants and 30 suspects were arrested, it adds.

After a gun and a bomb attack on a mosque in November took the lives of more than 300 people, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has ordered the military to defeat Islamists in the region by the end of this month.

Authorizing troops to use "all brute force" necessary to restore "security and stability" to the region within three months, suspicion for that attack fell on an affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) group in Sinai.

Egyptian ground troops, air forces and navy joined with border guards and the police for the operation, dubbed Comprehensive Operation Sinai 2018.

The statement says they discovered a communication center and six drug farms.

MENAFN1102201800450000ID1096453880