CAIRO (Ma'an) -- Egypt's defense minister will send a large combat force to Sinai within 48 hours to free seven kidnapped Egyptian servicemen, a source in his office said Saturday.

The decision to send in the troops came after unsuccessful efforts to negotiate the release of the soldiers and police, a senior defense ministry official told Ma'an.

Local Bedouin leaders had been called in to mediate after gunmen ambushed two minibuses in Sinai's Wadi al-Akhdar early Thursday and kidnapped seven members of Egyptian security forces.
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