Egypt: Nine "extremists" killed in exchange of fire

Egyptian security forces have killed nine suspected extremists during an exchange of fire in the Nile Delta province of Sarkia, the Egyptian Interior Ministry has said.

According to a ministry statement, security services received information that extremists were using a farm in Sarkia as a hideout and were being trained there to use weapons to launch attacks in northern Sinai.

"While raiding the farm, the security services (…) came under fire and retaliated, resulting in the death of nine" by the suspects, the interior ministry said.

According to the same source, the authorities are still trying to verify the identities of the suspects. Weapons and ammunition were found and confiscated on the farm.

In a separate operation, an attack on another "terrorist hideout" in Cairo, police arrested 9 extremists on Sunday, according to the same announcement of the Ministry of Interior. Authorities say the detainees are all linked to the Muslim Brotherhood's illegal organization.

The army and security services have clashed with Islamist extremists in the area, which stretches from the Suez Canal to the east to the Gaza Strip and Israel, since 2013. Hundreds of police and soldiers have been killed.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in November ordered the armed forces to end Islamist insurgency within three months of a mosque attack in northern Sinai that killed at least 300 people. It was the bloodiest attack in the modern history of the country.

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