Roundup: Army raids kill 17 Islamist militants in Egypt's Sinai

At least 17 suspected Islamist militants were killed on Friday by the armed forces in the Egyptian province of North Sinai, an official security source told Xinhua.

Apache raids on a camp of the Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (ABM) group have killed ten militants southern Rafah city.

Another seven were killed in fire exchanges with the security forces in Sheikh Zuweid city, the source added on conditions of anonymity.

During the security raids, eight suspected militants were arrested, ten warehouses destroyed, six vehicles, and 20 motor bikes were seized.

Moreover, the security forces have dismantled 19 explosive devices found in Sheikh Zuweid, two of them were planted near a natural gas station, official news agency MENA reported.

Earlier on Friday, a soldier was shot dead by Islamist militants while moving from his camp to a hospital in Sheikh Zuweid.

Gunmen of the ABM group intercepted an ambulance carrying two soldiers, took the medical vehicle after they shot one soldier dead and kidnapped another. The paramedic in the ambulance were also injured.

In a separate accident also in Sinai, two Egyptian women were killed when a shell bombarded their house in Sheikh Zuweid village of Qaber Omair.

There are no details on the source of the shell.

Egypt has been witnessing a growing wave of anti-security attacks that killed hundreds of army personnel and policemen since the ouster of the Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

Since then, the army has launched a wide-scale operation to uproot the hard-line militants who took from the Sinai Peninsula a stronghold for carrying out their attacks.

The ABM group, which has sworn allegiance to Islamic State, claimed responsibility for most of the anti-security attacks in Sinai and other cities in Egypt.

Egypt executed on Sunday six convicted Islamist militants, two of whom are top leaders of the ABM group.

On Thursday, the group vowed retaliation of judges and security men.

Meanwhile members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, from which the ousted Islamist leader affiliates, torched tires and blocked the international road in Arish, on protest for the death sentence against Morsi.

The protests came in response for calls of the National Alliance for Supporting Legitimacy, a pro-Morsi bloc for continuous demonstrations till June 3, the day of confirming death verdict against Morsi and other Brotherhood top leader over intelligence and jailbreak charges.

Muslim Brotherhood reported on its official website that 15 protests were flocked into streets in seven provinces including the capital.

During the security dispersal of Morsi loyalists on Friday evening, at least 13 Brotherhood members, most of whom were wanted in violence cases, were arrested. Endit