The Egyptian president says the country faces a tough battle as it struggles “alone” against insurgents and the terror threat from an Islamic State affiliate based in northern Sinai.
Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi warns the “price will be very heavy” in the fight to combat terrorism.
His remarks came shortly after a brazen militant attack, involving a truck bomb, killed at least eight in the Sinai city of el-Arish on Monday.
El-Sisi says there are 25 000 troops in that part of Sinai Peninsula, where fighting has raged for years against militants.
El-Sisi spoke to the private ONTV network late on Monday.
The northeastern Sinai region has been a militant hotspot for several years.
Violence escalated after the military’s ouster of the Islamist President Mohammed Morsi who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood group.
