ADVERTISEMENT

Security Forces Kill 16 Militants After Deadly Cairo Bombing

Suicide Bomber Kills Two Policemen Near Famed Cairo Bazaar

(Bloomberg) -- Egyptian security forces killed 16 militants in raids on their Sinai Peninsula hideouts, hours after a suicide bomber killed two policemen near a famed Cairo bazaar.

Police clashed with militants in two separate locations in the restive city of El-Arish, killing 10 in one raid and six in the other, the Interior Ministry said in a statement Tuesday.

The city has become a main battleground between militants and security services over the past year as the government wages a fierce fight against the Islamic State’s local affiliate and other groups. But while the majority of the violence is centered in the Sinai, militants have also targeted the capital and other parts of Egypt.

The suicide bombing in Cairo late Monday took place near the Khan El-Khalili bazaar, a bustling district frequented by tourists and locals that sits near the historic Al-Azhar mosque and university. Police said they were chasing the bomber in connection with an attempted attack elsewhere in Cairo days earlier. The explosive device he was carrying detonated as police captured him, killing the officers and wounding three other people.

On Saturday, a clash between security forces and militants in north Sinai left 15 military personnel dead or wounded and killed seven militants. In December, authorities said they killed 40 suspected militants in Greater Cairo and the Sinai after an earlier attack near the pyramids on a bus carrying Vietnamese tourists.

To contact the reporters on this story: Tarek El-Tablawy in Cairo at teltablawy@bloomberg.net;Ahmed Khalil El-Sayed in Cairo at akhalilelsay@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Mark Williams

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.