Egyptian forces kill 13 in raid on militant hideout: Ministry

Egyptian military forces have killed 13 suspected militants in an attack on a farm hideout in a desert region west of the country, a week after a militant ambush on a police convoy killed dozens of officers.

Egypt’s Interior Ministry announced the development in a Friday statement but offered no details on the affiliation of the militants, although they had largely been battling terrorists linked to the Daesh Takfiri group in the area. Hundreds of the country’s security forces have been killed in battles in the northern Sinai Peninsula since 2013.

"They took a house in the farm as a temporary hideout faraway from security monitoring to receive newly recruited elements and train them and prepare the explosive devices," read the official statement.

According to the statement, 13 bodies, some wearing militant uniforms, were recovered from the hideout following the raid along with weapons, explosive belts as well as cash and ammunition.

The ministry, however, did not mention whether the militants that came under attack were connected with those that ambushed Egyptian police forces last week in a remote area of Giza governorate, about 135 kilometers outside the capital Cairo, as officers were reportedly searching for a militant hideout.

State news agency MENA cited a senior security source earlier in the day as saying, "Security forces dealt a severe blow to the terrorist elements in revenge for the blood of the men who were martyred last week in the oasis."

The latest fighting took place in an area near the Assuit-Kharga desert highway, about 400 kilometers southwest of Cairo, in New Valley province, which shares a long border with neighboring Libya. Southern Libya has emerged as a major hideout for militant brigades taking advantage of the security vacuum in the North African county.

SS