Four suspected militants die while making bombs in Egypt

At least four suspected militants have been killed while working on bomb-making materials south of the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

The Egyptian Interior Ministry said in a statement on Saturday that the deadly blast took place on a farm in the province of Beni Suef, south of Cairo.

The statement added that the men were killed in an accidental explosion while preparing the bombs in the troubled region.

Police and law enforcement agencies have also found bomb-making materials at the site, it said.

Meanwhile, police sources say the suspected militants were members of the Muslim Brotherhood movement.

The military-backed Egyptian government has blacklisted the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. It also launched a brutal crackdown on Brotherhood’s supporters, sentencing many of them to death.

Since the ouster of Mohamed Morsi, the first democratically-elected president of Egypt, in July 2013, attacks on security forces have increased across the North African country.

Independent sources say most of the deadly assaults on security forces bear the hallmarks of those carried out by militants currently operating in the troubled restive Sinai Peninsula.

The Egyptian military considers the Sinai Peninsula a safe haven for gunmen, who use the region as a base for their acts of terror.

Ansar Bait al-Maqdis has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks against Egyptian security forces in the region. The group has recently pledged allegiance to the Takfiri ISIL terrorist group and changed its name to Velayat Sinai.

JR/HJL/SS

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