Egypt says 10 jihadists killed in raids, 2 arrested

Ten suspected jihadists were killed and two arrested in police raids across Egypt as authorities hunted down the perpetrators of a deadly car bomb attack, the interior ministry says.

It says said those targeted were members of Hasam, a jihadist group which the authorities have linked to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

They were allegedly involved in a March 24 car bombing on the eve of elections targeting a security chief in Alexandria in northern Egypt that killed two policemen.

Six jihadists were killed and a weapons cache unearthed as security forces raided a hideout in Beheira province, northwest of Cairo, the ministry says. A suspect was arrested in a residential apartment in Alexandria where arms and explosives were also seized. A shootout in Assiut province, south of Cairo, left four other suspects dead, and a Hasam member who had allegedly acquired the car used in the Alexandria attack was also arrested.

The ministry’s statement does not specify when the raids and arrests took place.

— AFP