Egypt police kills leader of outlawed militant group

Senior leader of Egypt's Ajnad Misr terrorist group was killed on Sunday by security forces in Giza governorate, Egypt's interior ministry said.

The ministry said in a press statement that the Hammam Attiya, founder of the outlawed Ajnad Misr militant group, was shot dead during fire exchanges with security forces at an apartment in Al-Ahram district in Giza.

The ministry said while the security forces were trying to arrest Attiya after spotting his location, he started shooting at them.

A machinegun, a pistol, 22 bombs were found at the apartment, the statement said.

The wanted militant used the apartment as a hideout and an operation cell, according to the statement.

Egyptian police claims that Attiya is responsible for 26 attacks that left a number of Egyptian army and police personnel dead across the country.

Attiya was a member of the al-Qaida-inspired Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (ABM) group, but he quit the organization in 2013 and founded the Ajnad Misr.

Ajnad Misr, Soldiers of Egypt in Arabic, is an active Islamist militant group which claims that its attacks are only against the Egyptian army and police.

The Cairo Court for Urgent Matters declared the group a terrorist organization in May 2014. The group is also designated a terrorist organization by the United States.

Terrorist attacks have mounted in Egypt, particularly in the Sinai Peninsula and capital Cairo, since the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 and the following crackdown on his supporters that left about 1,000 killed and thousands more arrested.

Most of the attacks were claimed by Sinai-based ABM group and Ajnad Misr group.

As part of the Egypt's "war against terrorism," security campaigns have killed and arrested dozens of militants in the northern part of the peninsula. Endit