TOLL FROM MILITANT AMBUSH IN EGYPT PASSES 50

Security forces killed while on an operation to find militants’ hideout

The death toll from a militant ambush in Egypt’s western desert has risen to at least 50 security troops, including policemen.

The forces were attacked late on Friday on a road to the Bahariya oasis, about 200 kilometres south-east of Cairo, as they were hunting down extremists in the region, the interior ministry said.

Two police contingents were taking part in an operation to attack a militant hideout when one of the patrols came under fire from heavy weapons, the ministry said.

Sixteen police were killed and 13 others were wounded in that part of the operation, it said, while at least 15 militants also died in the battle.

“As soon as the first mission approached the location of the terrorists, they sensed the arrival of the forces and targeted them using heavy weapons from all directions,” the ministry said.

The ministry did not give details of any casualties in the other police patrol.

One security source said the convoy was attacked from higher ground by militants firing rocket-propelled grenades and detonating explosive devices on the ground.

The UAE condemned the attack and offered condolences to the Egyptian government and people.

Dr Anwar Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said the UAE stood with the Egyptian government’s efforts to counter terrorism that was undermining the country’s security.

Security has been a key concern for Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El Sisi. Most of the fighting between militants and security forces so far has been in northern Sinai, where an ISIL affiliate operates.

No group claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack but security sources earlier said police had been looking for a hideout of the Hasam Movement, an extremist militant group blamed for attacks on judges and police in Cairo.

That group has only carried out mostly small operations since it emerged last year. Egyptian authorities say it is the militant wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was outlawed in 2013.

Most of its leadership has been jailed in a crackdown under Mr El Sisi, a former army chief who was elected in 2014 after leading the removal of the Brotherhood’s Mohammed Morsi from the presidency the year before.

Since Mr El Sisi came to power, hundreds of troops and police have been killed in often sophisticated attacks by militants in the northern Sinai region, where the Ansar Bayt Al Maqdis insurgent group pledged allegiance to ISIL in 2014.

Last Sunday, at least 24 militants and six soldiers were killed in attacks on military outposts in northern Sinai, when more than 100 militants repeatedly attacked security outposts south of the border town of Sheikh Zuweid.

Attacks have mostly hit police and armed forces, but extremist militants have also extended their campaign outside the Sinai, with bomb attacks against Christians in churches in Cairo and other cities.