Egypt police kill leading Islamist jihadist in Giza

Egypt's Interior Ministry announced the death of a leading Islamist jihadist sentenced to death in an exchange of fire during his arrest in Giza, Cairo on Monday.

"The Homeland Security Department got information that Ashraf Idrees al-Qazzaz, a 34-year-old carpenter whose nom de guerre is 'Hamza,' frequently visits his sister's apartment in Giza's Kerdasa neighborhood," said the statement.

Early morning, police forces raided his place looking to arrest the man, who surprised the forces with a gunfire attack which ended upon his death by police fire, according to the statement.

The police said the jihadist had received a death sentence after storming into a Kerdasa police station and killing several personnel, plus another sentence of 25 years in jail for establishing an armed militant cell which targeted the state's television building.

In September, an Egyptian court sentenced seven Islamists to death after charging them with storming into a Kerdasa police station where they killed the head policeman and wounded nine other policemen in August 2013.

Anti-government terrorist attacks have increased in Egypt following the military removal of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

Furthermore, the ensuing security crackdown on his supporters killed around 1,000 of them, and thousands were arrested.

Hundreds of security personnel were killed in anti-government attacks in the past three years with Sinai's militant Islamic State (IS) group claiming responsibility for most of them.

In the past couple of days, about 20 soldiers were killed in blasts and armed attacks in Egypt's North Sinai province, and security forces retaliated by killing around 100 militants and wounding 40 others.

Security forces have killed about 1,000 militants and arrested a similar number of suspects in North Sinai as part of the country's 'war on terror,' declared the then military-chief and current President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi following Morsi's dismissal. Endit