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Egypt kills 8 from Hams , nabs others in anti-militant operations

Egyptian police stand guard outside a hospital in Cairo's northern suburb of Shubra on May 26, 2017. (AFP photo)

Egypt’s Interior Ministry has announced the death of eight more suspected militants in an operation south of the country while security forces arrest others in east and west of capital Cairo.

The ministry said in a statement on Sunday that the slain militants were members of Hams, a militants group that the government has associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned political party.

It said the militants were operating in a training camp in a southern desert region. Hams on Friday claimed last week attacks on police forces in Fayoum, southwest of Cairo, which killed one officer and injured three others. The group has denied any links to Brotherhood.

The Interior Ministry said five other militants were arrested in a separate operation in Giza and Sharqiya regions. It added that forces had recovered automatic rifles, ammunition and supplies from a camp in Fayoum.

Egypt has been beset by militant attacks in the rugged Sinai region in the northwest and in the mainland since a military-led overthrow of former President Mohammed Morsi in 2013. Morsi’s successor, former military chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who is thought to have led the popular coup four years ago, has failed in his promises to root out militancy.

Right after taking office in 2014, Sisi’s government outlawed Brotherhood, the oldest and most popular political party in Egypt. Tens of thousands of the party’s supporters, including Morsi and other senior members, have been caught in the wheels of a crackdown which rights campaigners say has unjustly targeting the dissent and has exacerbated the country’s security problems.

In a bid to counter rising attacks by a branch of Daesh Takfiri group in Sinai, Sisi on Sunday watched the inauguration of a sprawling military camp northwest of Egypt. Senior leaders from Arab countries of the Persian Gulf attended the ceremony to open the Mohamed Naguib military base at El Hammam City which officials said was the largest in the Middle East and North Africa region.  


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