7 suspected militants killed in North Sinai - military sources

Saturday 16-05-2015 10:26 PM
7 suspected militants killed in North Sinai - military sources
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CAIRO, May 16 (Aswat Masriya) - Air raids on two North Sinai cities left seven suspected militants dead on Saturday, military sources said.

In one of the raids, apache helicopters struck a target, acting on information indicating that there was a "cell" belonging to the Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis militant group at the site "planning operations against [security] forces," the sources told Aswat Masriya.

The former raid took place near Sheikh Zuweid city and left six suspected militants killed, while the seventh was killed when helicopters struck him on a motorcycle near Rafah city.

Gunmen had earlier opened fire on a vehicle in North Sinai's al-Arish city, killing three prosecutors and a driver.

The attack on the prosecutors' vehicle came shortly after a Cairo court referred ousted president Mohamed Mursi to the Grand Mufti Saturday morning, a step that must be taken in Egypt's court system ahead of issuing a death sentence.

A security source had suspected that the prosecutors were attacked by militants belonging to the Sinai-based Ansar, which has come to be Egypt's most notorious militant group, having claimed more responsibility for militant attacks across Egypt than any other group.

It changed its name to Sinai Province after pledging allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State fighters last year. Most of the group's attacks are carried out in the north of the Sinai Peninsula. 

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