Egyptian security forces killed 10 militants linked to the Daesh group during a raid Friday on one of their hideouts in the Sinai Peninsula, the Interior Ministry said.
Members of the group opened fire at the security forces as they approached the hideout in an abandoned house in the North Sinai provincial capital of El-Arish, a ministry statement said.
The gunmen were linked to a militant leader from Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis who formed groups that attacked security forces, the ministry said.
Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis is the name used by the group before it pledged allegiance to the Daesh in November 2014.
The attacks include a car bombing on Monday at a checkpoint near El-Arish that killed eight policemen and a civilian, the ministry said.
The group also assassinated two other policemen, and kidnapped and killed an engineer, the ministry said.
Daesh claimed responsibility for the checkpoint attack on Tuesday, during which the Interior Ministry said the police shot dead five assailants.
Militants have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since the military overthrow of President Muhammad Mursi in 2013 unleashed a bloody crackdown on his supporters.
Most of the attacks have taken place in the north of the Sinai Peninsula, which borders Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, though attacks have reached Cairo.
Merkel, El-Sisi discuss counterterrorism
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi spoke by telephone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss cooperation in combating terrorism, his office said on Friday.
“Sisi and Merkel condemned the terrorist attacks that recently took place in Egypt and Germany, which require all peace loving nations and peoples to collaborate so as to face terrorism,” the Egyptian presidency said in a statement.

Source: Arab News