ISIS weapons in Sinai
Report: ISIS used advanced Russian weapons in Sinai attacks
Egyptian media calls unprecedented Sinai attacks a 'war,' claims that militants responsible were heavily armed with sophisticated weaponry.
A newspaper close to the Egyptian government reported Thursday that the Islamic State-linked militants who attacked troops
in the Sinai Peninsula on Wednesday used sophisticated weaponry, including Russian-made Kornet anti-tank missiles.
The attack, which included a wave of suicide bombings and assaults on security installations by dozens of militants, was Sinai's deadliest fighting in decades. Security officials
said dozens of troops were killed, along with some 100 attackers.
In a graphic on its front page, el-Watan daily said the attackers also used mortars, anti-aircraft guns and other guided missiles.
An ISIS stockpile of weapons discovered by the Egyptian Army in Sinai.
Newspapers led their front pages with the attack, with many describing it as a "war." Graphic photographs released by the military showed the bodies of extremists killed in the fighting who were wearing combat fatigues.
A photo released by the Egyptian Army apparently showing a militant dead in Sinai.
Israeli authorities decided to boost the number of military operators along the Egyptian border Wednesday night as a result of the attacks.
Meanwhile, Egyptian security officials said the military killed 23 Islamic militants in the Sinai Peninsula in dawn air raids on Thursday, just south of the north Sinai border town of Rafah.
They say the army was seeking out militants house to house on Thursday in the town of Sheikh Zuweid, and demining roads in and around the town that extremists had booby trapped with mines and improvised explosive devices.
Egyptian air strikes in the Sinai Peninsula.
An Associated Press reporter across the border in the Gaza Strip heard explosions and saw smoke rising in the area as airstrikes continued in the afternoon and warplanes roared overhead.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media.
Egyptian forces in Sinai. (Photo: AP)
Gunmen also shot and killed a security guard in front of a bank in Fayoum, 80 kilometers (50 miles) southwest of Cairo on Thursday.
It was not immediately clear if Thursday's shooting was a criminal or militant attack. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
