Police raid in Egypt kills 9 militants

Cairo, Dec 25  : A total of Nine terrorists were killed in a security raid conducted in the northeastern Egyptian province of Sharqiya, Egypt's Interior Ministry announced on Sunday.

Egyptian security forces killed the terrorists in a fire exchange during a raid on a farm in Sharqiya, which was used as a hideout and a training camp for terrorists involved in attacks in North Sinai, the ministry said in a statement, Xinhua reported.

In another anti-terror raid conducted in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, nine terror suspects were arrested with a machine gun, ammunition and explosives in their possession, the statement said.

It added that four of the nine arrested have been involved in a checkpoint attack in July that wounded a conscript and a civilian, as the police found with them a statement they prepared to claim responsibility for it.

"A laptop was also found with them containing photos of the cell's members while training on using weapons in desert areas," said the statement.

Egypt has been facing a wave of terrorist activities since the military ousted former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to mass protests against his one-year reign and his currently outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.

According to the police statement, investigation showed that the Brotherhood provided financial support for the arrested group that has been plotting a series of attacks against state institutions.

Terrorist attacks have killed hundreds of policemen, soldiers, Coptic Christians, and Muslim worshippers in the past years. Most of the attacks were claimed by a Sinai-based militant group loyal to the Islamic State (IS) regional terror group.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian security forces have killed hundreds of terrorists and arrested a similar number of suspects during the country's anti-terror war declared by President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, then the army chief, following Morsi's ouster.