On Saturday, Egypt said that 21 jihadists were killed in clashes with security forces in the restive Sinai peninsula, where Islamic State group-affiliated militants have waged a long-running insurgency.
The interior ministry said in a statement that police raided two hideouts of “terrorist elements” in North Sinai governorate, sparking a gunbattle in which two officers were also wounded. It said the two groups had been planning attacks during the major Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which starts in Egypt on Sunday.
Security forces had found automatic weapons and suicide belts in the hideouts. Security forces have been battling a long-running Islamist insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula – in Egypt’s northeast – that is spearheaded by a local affiliate of the Islamic State group.
The fighting intensified after the military’s 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. In February 2018, security forces had found automatic weapons and suicide belts in the hideouts.
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