2 terrorists killed in fire exchange with security forces in North Sinai

CAIRO – 30 June 2020: Two terrorists were killed in a fire exchange with security forces Tuesday in North Sinai as they were observing security concentrations within an attack plot, as announced by the Ministry of Interior.

The elements fired at the forces using machine guns when they tried to arrest them while riding in a car. They also possessed five magazines, ammunition, and a CZ pistol that was stolen from a policeman, after he had been killed in a terror attack on August 9, 2017 in North Sinai's Beir Al-Abd town.

The Ministry of Interior announced on May 27 the killing of 21 terrorists and the injury of two officers in North Sinai in fire exchange between the terror elements and police forces, while the latter were storming into their hideouts.

One of the hideouts was a farm where they were training and planning to execute hostile operations. The other was a house in BeirAl-Abd town where they were preparing to carry out terror attacks on May 24-26.

Police forces raided both hideouts in parallel, killing 14 elements in the farm, and seven elements in the house. The forces found, in the former, 13 machine guns, three explosives, an explosive belt, and a walkie talkie, and in the latter, four machine guns, two explosives, and an explosive belt.

"The Egyptian Armed Forces managed to kill seven takfiri elements (terrorists) during a raid in North Sinai," the military spokesman said on May 23, two weeks after he reported the death and injury of eight soldiers and two officers in the governorate.

"One of the elements was killed during the raid," Spokesman Tamer al-Refae said, while six others were killed in a hideout while attempting to escape.

The forces managed to seize and detonate 10 explosive devices and four explosive belts.Also, three automatic and sniper rifles, three pistols, and 21 firearm magazines were seized during the military operation.

The Egyptian Armed Forces said earlier in May that 126 takfiris were killed in 22 raids and 12 operations carried out by the army and police forces in Central and North Sinai.

"Additionally, four officers, three non-commissioned officers and eight soldiers were either killed or injured during the operations," the statement noted, without specifying the exact number of deaths.

In a statement, the Armed Forces said it could seize a number of weapons and explosive belts, which were possessed by the eliminated terrorists.

The army also found and detonated 630 explosive devices that were planted to target the armed forces. Eight tunnels were also discovered and destroyed and the Air Force managed to destroy 228 hideouts that belonged to terrorists and 116 four-wheel drive vehicles, according to the statement.