CAIRO, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's air forces destroyed 10 vehicles loaded with weapons and ammunition near the country's western border with Libya, the Egyptian army said Thursday.
The operation came while the Egyptian army continues a massive anti-terror operation named "Comprehensive Operation Sinai 2018," which was launched on Friday.
The Egyptian army has killed 53 suspected terrorists so far, while the police have killed 13.
The latest raid is part of a plan to eliminate terrorists as well as prevent border infiltration and smuggling activities, said the statement.
"The air forces and the border guards continue carrying out their missions so strictly to secure the state borders and prevent any border infiltration attempt," it said.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said in late October 2017 that his army had destroyed more than 1,200 vehicles loaded with arms, ammunition and fighters along the border with Libya over the past three years.
Egypt is concerned about its 1,200-km western border with Libya where the smuggling of arms and militants has been very active over the years.
The Egyptian leadership sees Libya's stability necessary for maintaining Egypt's national security and uprooting cross-border terrorism.
The country has been working with Libya's neighboring states to reach a political settlement in Libya, which is torn by a civil war and run by two rival administrations, one in the capital Tripoli in the northwest and another in Tobruk in the northeast.
Egypt has been fighting a wave of terrorist attacks that have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers, as well as civilians, following the military ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
