The police killed thirteen suspected militants during a security raid in a farm in Al-Arish, North Sinai, Egypt’s Ministry of Interior said on Tuesday.
National Security Apparatus received “information about a group of terrorist elements hiding in a remote house inside a farm in the neighbourhood of El Hoss, Al-Arish, which they used as a hideout
and a starting point for their aggressive operations,” the ministry said in the statement.
The security forces immediately targeted the hideout “where they exchanged fire with the terrorist elements and 13 of the elements were killed,” the ministry detailed.
Six machine guns, four rifle cartridge, an explosive device, and two suicide vests were confiscated, the ministry added.
On Saturday, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi extended a nationwide state of emergency for an additional three months. The state of emergency was first imposed in April 2017, following two Church bombings on Palm Sunday which resulted in the death of at least 45 people and over 100 injuries.
The Islamic State group (IS) branch in North Sinai claimed the responsibly of the two bloody attacks. The group is also responsible for dozens of terrorist attacks targetting the country in the past five years.
Since October 2014, a state of emergency has been imposed in North Sinai. Egypt’s army and police have launched a comprehensive campaign to confront militants in central and North Sinai, the Nile Delta region, and the Western Desert.
