Militants involved in police ambush killed: Egypt army

By Mohamed al-Rayes

CAIRO

Egyptian army forces have located and killed several militants involved in a deadly ambush last month in Egypt’s Western Desert, according to a Wednesday statement released by the Defense Ministry.

The ministry said that joint army and police forces had killed a number of “terrorist elements” in the desert area near Egypt’s Fayyoum province, located southwest of Cairo.

The statement did not, however, provide the exact number of militants who were slain.

According to the ministry, security forces -- backed by army air cover -- are now in the process of combing the area for more militants.

In mid-October, at least 16 policemen were killed in an ambush by unidentified perpetrators some 135 kilometers (roughly 84 miles) southwest of Cairo.

On Tuesday, the military announced it had killed a “large number” of militants -- and destroyed three weapons-laden vehicles -- in a major security operation in Egypt’s Western Desert region.

Egyptian troops also reportedly secured the release of a policeman taken hostage during last month’s ambush.

Egypt has been fighting a militant insurgency since mid-2013, when the army ousted and arrested Mohamed Morsi, the country’s first freely elected president, in a military coup.

The insurgency has been largely confined to the northern Sinai Peninsula, but sporadic attacks have also occurred on the mainland, including in capital Cairo.

Egypt has remained under a state of emergency since April, when scores were killed in a twin attack on two churches in the country’s north.