Egyptian security forces stand by their Armoured Personell Carriers ahead of a military operation in the northern Sinai peninsula on August 08, 2012. Egypt, which launched air raids against Islamist militants in Sinai for the first time in decades, faces a tough enemy that has used the peninsula’s rugged terrain to evade capture in the past. The military said it deployed Apache helicopter gunships in the strikes that killed 20 “terrorists” in the Sinai village of Tumah, in retaliation for a weekend ambush that cost the lives of 16 soldiers. AFP PHOTO/STRINGER