Two alleged Ajnad Misr members were killed during an exchange of fire between security forces and the militants, according to state-owned newspaper Al-Ahram.
The killed persons were suspects in the bombing of the Italian Consulate in Egypt, according to AFP. The Italian Consulate was bombed on 11 July, leaving one dead and nine others injured. “Islamic State” however reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack.
A representative from the Ministry of Interior said he had no information about the incident.
Ajnad Misr group has been designated a terrorist organisation since May 2014 by a Cairo Court verdict. More than 40 alleged members of the group are facing trials on charges of targeting police stations, security personnel, and public and vital facilities. The latest of these trials was held on Saturday, when Judge Moataz Khafagy ordered the postponement of the trial to 17 October.
The defendants are accused with the attempted murder of over 100 police officers and civilians. The case is originally comprised of two parts; the first includes 20 defendants and the second involves 22 others who recently joined the trial.
The defendants were referred to criminal court as per late prosecutor general Hisham Barakat’s decision based on evidence of targeting security personnel in different areas nationwide. Barakat was killed on 29 June following a bomb explosion.
The group has claimed responsibility for a number of significant attacks, the most recent of which is the bomb explosion on 16 July in Roxy Square in the Cairo district of Heliopolis, which left one police officer injured. They also claimed a bomb in early April in the Zamalek district, which resulted in the death of one police officer.
Ajnad Misr justified their targeting of security personnel in a January video by claiming that the attacks came in retaliation for “all sorts of crimes against the people”.
