Five alleged extremists were killed on Tuesday in a gunfight with security forces in Al-Oboor city in Qalyubia governorate, according to a statement from the Ministry of Interior. The statement said that the five men belong to the Hasm movement, which receives orders from abroad to conduct terror attacks in Egypt.
According to the statement, the Ministry of Interior has received information about five Hasm militants hiding in Al-Oboor city, and when the security forces approached their place, the militants shot at the forces, and the gunfight resulted in killing the five militants.
The Hasm Movement has appeared in early 2016, and the Ministry of Interior said the group belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood. The movement has claimed responsibility for several recent attacks in statements circulated online.
In August 2016, the group said it was behind the failed assassination attempt of former Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa. In October of the same year, militants driving a black private vehicle opened fire on army leader, Adel Ragaai, assassinating him in front of his residence in Al-Obour City.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior also announced it arrested five alleged militants belonging to the Hasm movement, in Al-Marg in Cairo.
Egypt is currently battling several armed groups, concentrated mainly in the Sinai Peninsula, since the ouster of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. Since then, shootings targeting police, army officers, and state officials have become a near weekly occurrence in Egypt.
