Thirty tribes based in Egypt’s Sinai announced Sunday in a Sinai Tribal Federation meeting they would engage against militant groups, including a Daesh-affilitate, in the conflict-ridden peninsula region, reported Reuters.
Violence in the Sinai Peninsula surged in 2013 when Islamist president Mohamed Morsi was ousted after mass popular protests. Armed insurgent groups have targeted Egyptian security personnel in the Sinai, killing hundreds of soldiers and police.
The federation of Sinai tribes pledged to operate “in coordination with the relevant agencies and institutions of the formal state … to support the state and the armed forces in their war against terrorism,” according to a statement.
The tribes agreed to form volunteer groups to participate in military campaigns against armed insurrectionists as well as gather information on suspected militants and weapons-smuggling routes in the Sinai.
Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, a militant group which has staged attacks against Egyptian soldiers and police in the Sinai, pledged allegiance to Daesh in November 2014 and continues to operate.
Last month, Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi issued a decree extending for an additional three months a state of emergency imposed on Northern Sinai in October 2014. The state of emergency was originally imposed following a car bomb attack near the border with the Gaza Strip that killed 33 security personnel.
