Egypt: Military helicopter crashes in Sinai
CAIRO (AP) — Spokesman of Egypt's military says an army helicopter crashed and its crew is missing in the northern Sinai Peninsula, where troops are battling Islamic militants.
Col. Ahmed Mohammed Ali says in a statement that the accident took place early Saturday near the village of el-Kharouba village. He provided no further details on the cause of the crash.
The Egyptian military has been waging operations for months in the northern Sinai to uproot Islamic militants who took hold of several towns and villages in the aftermath of 2011 uprising.
Sinai-based groups intensified their militancy after the ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi on July 3 military coup. One group, Ansar Beit al-Muqdis claimed responsibility for a series of bombings in Cairo Friday that killed six.
