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Militants kill Islamist parliament candidate in Egypt's Sinai

Xinhua, October 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

Unknown gunmen shot dead on Saturday a parliament candidate of an Islamist Al-Nour Party outside his home in Arish city of restive North Sinai province, a security source told Xinhua.

"Pharmacist Mostafa Abdel-Rahman was sent to Arish Public Hospital with several shots in the head, the chest and the abdomen while the assailants managed to run away," the source added.

The ultraconservative Islamist Al-Nour Party is one of the political forces that supported then-military chief and now President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi in his removal of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to mass protests.

The gunmen are expected to belong to the Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis militant group, which has changed its name to "Sinai State" and declared loyalty to the Islamic State (IS) regional militant group.

Earlier on Saturday, three policemen were killed and eight others wounded as a blast targeted their armoured vehicle also in Arish.

Egypt has been suffering militant attacks that killed hundreds of police and military men since Morsi's ouster and the later crackdown on his now-banned Muslim Brotherhood group, with the "Sinai State" claiming responsibility for most of them.

The armed forces and police have recently been launching a wide-scale anti-terrorist security campaign in North Sinai, killing over 600 militants and arresting hundreds of others.

The security campaign is part of the country's "war against terrorism" declared by Sisi following Morsi's removal. Endit