CAIRO: Twelve suspected militants were killed Monday in police raids near Cairo, Egypt’s interior ministry said, a day after a bomb blast injured 17 people including tourists near the Giza pyramids.
Security forces “carried out a raid against an apartment in the 6th of October district used for making explosive devices... These forces were shot at and responded, which left seven dead among the group,” which has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, the ministry said in a statement.
In another such raid in Cairo’s Al-Shorouk neighborhood against the militant Hasm group, an armed affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood, the ministry said five suspected extremists were killed in an exchange of fire.
Weapons and ammunition were seized in the two apartments, the interior ministry said.
“As part of the ministry’s efforts to tackle the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organization, information reached national security services” of attacks being prepared by Hasm, the ministry said.
The statement did not directly link the raids to Sunday’s attack in which a roadside bomb hit a tourist bus near the famed Giza pyramids.
There was no claim of responsibility.
It came months after three Vietnamese holidaymakers and their Egyptian guide were killed when a roadside bomb hit their bus near the pyramids in December.
Egyptian authorities led a crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood members after the military overthrew president Muhammad Mursi in 2013.
The Hasm group emerged in 2016 and has in the past claimed responsibility for several attacks.
12 suspected extremists killed in Egypt raids: ministry
12 suspected extremists killed in Egypt raids: ministry
- The ministry said five other suspects were killed in a different raid
- No group claimed responsibility for the Sunday attack
Syrian authorities repair Deir Ezzor airport runway to prepare for resuming flights
- Airport has been out of service for more than a decade because of civil war
LONDON: Syrian authorities are repairing key infrastructure at Deir Ezzor Civil Airport ahead of flights being resumed. Government forces have been in control of northeastern Syria since January.
Syria’s General Authority of Civil Aviation and Air Transport announced on Monday that technical and engineering teams are repairing the runway, essential facilities, and rebuilding the airport’s perimeter fence to meet international safety and security standards.
The airport has been out of service for more than a decade due to the civil war in the country, which damaged infrastructure, including several bridges in northeastern Syria, where towns are next to the Euphrates River.
The Syrian government regained control over the region from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces through an agreement in January that established a ceasefire and outlined a phased integration of military and administrative structures.
On Sunday, Syrian authorities took over security responsibilities at Qamishli airport in Hasaka Province, northeastern Syria, as part of the agreement with the SDF.
