Roundup: 13 militants killed, 2 recruits wounded in Egypt's Sinai raids

At least 13 militants were killed in a fire exchange with security forces in the southern Sheikh Zuweid city of Egypt's restive North Sinai province, state-run Al-Ahram news website quoted security sources as saying.

The confrontations went on while the forces were installing a checkpoint between the towns of Muqat'aa and Toma in the city that is considered a den for Islamist-oriented extremists.

A security source told Xinhua that several militants were killed and injured in the raids but could not confirm a specific number, noting the forces also destroyed two of the militants' vehicles and a motorbike.

"Abu Refa'ei area at the international coastal road passing through Sheikh Zuweid is also witnessing confrontations between security forces and militants that led some residents to leave the area and temporarily stay elsewhere," local sources in Sheikh Zuweid said.

Meanwhile, two security recruits and a civilian were wounded as a blast targeted a security patrol at the coastal road in the area between Arish and Sheikh Zuweid cities, medics and security sources told Xinhua.

Earlier in the day, a bomb disposal team defused an improvised explosive device planted near a school and a power transformer in Arish city.

Egypt has been suffering growing anti-government terrorist attacks that killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since the army, led by now-President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, ousted former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to mass protests against his one-year rule.

Most of the anti-government attacks, including gas pipeline explosions, were claimed by a Sinai-based group loyal to the regional Islamic State (IS) militant group.

Last week, unknown assailants blew up a main natural gas pipeline near Arish city, which provides natural gas to residents and factories and formerly to Jordan and Israel.

A couple of days earlier, the security forces killed at least 60 militants and arrested 10 others during massive raids in Arish, Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah cities in the North Siani.

After Morsi's removal, the police launched a massive security crackdown on his loyalists, mostly from the now-blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood group, leaving over 1,000 killed and thousands more in custody.

On Thursday, the police arrested three members "of the qualitative operations committees of the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organization targeting military and police personnel and premises in several provinces," according to a statement from the Interior Ministry.

The statement added that the police also arrested 37 wanted extremists in some provinces over a number of similar terror charges.

Security raids in Sinai and other provinces nationwide are part of the country's "war against terrorism" declared by President Sisi following Morsi's removal. Endit