Egyptian security forces kill 16 suspected militants

Police officers control the crowd at the scene where policemen were killed when an explosive device carried by a militant they were pursuing exploded in Cairo, Egypt, February 18, 2019 (reuters)

Egyptian security forces killed 16 suspected militants in two separate raids in the city of Arish in North Sinai, state media said on Tuesday.

The report came the day after an explosion in central Cairo killed three policemen.

Ten suspected militants were killed in the Obeidat district of Arish and another six were killed in the Abu Eita district of the city, state-run Al Ahram said.

An undisclosed quantity of weapons, ammunition and explosives were found with the six in Abu Eita.

The two sides exchanged gunfire, it said without elaborating. It made no mention of any security forces casualties.

The suspected militants’ bodies were taken to several hospitals in the city of Ismailia to be examined and identified, security and medical sources said.

Egypt has been fighting an Islamist militant insurgency since 2013, mostly concentrated in North Sinai.