Security
forces killed two men in an exchange of gunfire in Giza, a senior security
official told Egypt's state news agency MENA on Saturday.
The official
said the men, who were inside an apartment, were fugitive terrorists. They
opened fire on security forces as soon as the officers approached to arrest
them, he said. MENA did not specify when the shooting took place.
Egypt's
state newspaper al-Ahram said the two men were members of a newly emerged
militant group called Hasm, which claimed responsibility for the killing of a
homeland security officer outside his home in Qalubiya, a province just north
of Cairo, while on his way to prayers on Friday.
Hasm has
claimed several attacks around Cairo targeting judges and policemen since last
year.
Egypt faces
an Islamist insurgency led by the Islamic State group in the restive Sinai
Peninsula, where hundreds of soldiers and police have been killed since 2013.
Also on
Friday, at least 23 Egyptian soldiers were killed when suicide car bombs tore
through two military checkpoints in North Sinai, an attack claimed by Islamic
State. It was one of the bloodiest assaults on security forces in years.
The group
has also increasingly carried out attacks in the mainland on security forces
and Coptic Christian civilians in recent months, killing around 100 Copts since
December.
Other
militant groups such as Hasm, which the government says are linked to the
Muslim Brotherhood, are active in Cairo and other cities where they have
targeted security forces, judges and pro-government figures.
The
Brotherhood was outlawed in 2013 after the military ousted one of its leaders,
Mohamed Mursi, from the presidency following mass protests. It maintains that
it is a peaceful organization.
Reuters
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