Egypt army arrests 12 militants in Sinai

Egypt arrested 12 militants in the restive North Sinai Province on Tuesday, seizing weapons, vehicles and foiling a car bomb attack, the military said in a statement.

The military raids in Mount Halal area seized a vehicle with a machine gun launcher and ammunition, and a car bomb set to attack the security forces, Egyptian Military Spokesman Tamer al-Refaay said in the statement.

"Further raids destroyed three motorbikes and seven hideouts wherein large amounts of explosives were found," he said, adding that the forces also found 300,000 pounds (about 19,000 U.S. dollars) from one of the 12 extremists.

Earlier in mid-February, at least three Egyptian soldiers were killed in Mount Halal area as a roadside bomb targeted their armored vehicle, while security raids killed three militants and arrested three others.

Growing anti-government terror attacks in Egypt has killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since the mid-2013 military removal of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in response to mass protests against his one-year rule.

Later security crackdown on Morsi's supporters killed about 1,000, arrested thousands of others, his Muslim Brotherhood group blacklisted as "a terrorist organization."

Security campaigns in Sinai have killed hundreds of militants with a similar number of suspects arrested over the past few years as part of the country's anti-terror war declared by former army chief and current President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi following Morsi's ouster. Endit