8 terrorists killed in Egypt's Sinai raid

CAIRO, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- At least eight terrorists were killed in a police raid in Egypt's Arish city of North Sinai province bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, the Egyptian Interior Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

"The terrorist elements have been involved in carrying out a number of terrorist operations in North Sinai," said the police statement.

The eight militants were killed in a fire exchange with the security forces who raided their hideout in a desert area in Arish, where they held training on using arms and planting explosive devices in preparation for anti-security attacks, according to the statement.

"The forces also found five machine guns, two explosive devices and various forms of ammunition in their possession," it added.

Egypt has been suffering terrorist activities that killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since the military removal of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to the mass protests against his one-year rule and his now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.

Terrorist attacks were centered in restive North Sinai province northeastern Cairo and focused on targeting security forces before they gradually extended to other provinces and started to target dozens of the Coptic minority with church bombings.

Most of the attacks were claimed by a Sinai-based group referring to itself as Wilayat Sinai (Sinai State or Province), which is affiliated with the regional Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.

Terrorism in Egypt did not stop at targeting security men and Copts, as a terrorist attack in late November 2017 against a mosque in a village in Arish killed at least 310 Muslim worshippers and wounded over 120 others, marking the deadliest terror attack and the first against a Muslim mosque in Egypt's modern history.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the mosque attack, although fingers point at the Sinai-based IS branch.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian security forces have killed hundreds of terrorists and arrested a large number of suspects during the country's anti-terror war declared by President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, the army chief then, following Morsi's ouster. Enditem