11 militants killed in army raids in Egypt's Sinai

At least 11 militants were killed in military raids in the cities of Arish and Sheikh Zuweid in Egypt's restive North Sinai governorate bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, Egyptian military authorities said on Saturday.

"The forces raided vast areas in Sinai and destroyed three of the most dangerous armed terrorist dens," military spokesman Mohamed Samir said in a statement.

He also said the forces found and ruined 57 explosive devices, destroyed four hiding places and an ambush house, and seized a large number of weapons, explosives and ammunition.

A military brigadier general was killed by three terrorists outside his home in North Sinai late Friday and a judge escaped a blast in Cairo earlier in the day.

In mid-October, at least 20 soldiers were killed in a series of blasts and armed attacks in two days in North Sinai.

There has been growing terrorism in Egypt since the military removed former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to mass protests against his one-year rule and his now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.

Subsequent security crackdown against his loyalists, mostly from the Brotherhood, left about 1,000 of them killed and thousands more arrested and the group was eventually blacklisted as a terrorist organization.

Anti-government attacks over the past few years have killed hundreds of police and military personnel, with a Sinai-based group loyal to the Islamic State claiming responsibility for most of them.

Meanwhile, the security forces killed over 1,000 militants and arrested a similar number of suspects in the chaotic peninsula as part of the country's "war against terrorism" declared by then military-chief and now-President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi following Morsi's ouster. Endit