The Egyptian army announced that at least 10 "extremely dangerous" terrorists were killed in a military raid in North Sinai province in northeastern Egypt.
Over the past weeks, north Sinai witnessed several clashes between armed militants affiliated with ISIS and the Egyptian army and police.
Egyptian military spokesman Gharib Abdel-Hafez announced that a terrorist outpost was discovered in which some extremist elements were holed up, where they were besieged and raided, without revealing the exact date of the raid.
Abdel-Hafez pointed out that the terrorist elements initiated the attack against the armed forces, which raided their hideout, killed ten, and arrested an injured terrorist while attempting to run away.
The militants had guns and ammunition in their possession, in addition to hand grenades, explosive belts, and several wireless devices.
The Egyptian military said it is determined "to uproot the remaining roots of terrorism and extremism and continue construction and development in all parts of Egypt."
Earlier, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi vowed to continue security operations in North Sinai to cleanse it of terrorism.
Sisi reviewed the security situation in Sinai during a meeting with top military officials, vowing to pursue and destroy militants.
He directed the generals to "complete the purge of some areas in northern Sinai from terrorists and takfiris and continue implementing security measures contributing to eradicating all forms of terrorism."
Meanwhile, the Cairo Criminal Court and the Emergency Supreme State Security sentenced former presidential candidate Abdelmoneim Abul-Fotouh and the Muslim Brotherhood's ex-supreme guide Mahmoud Ezzat to 15 years in prison.
The high state security prosecution accused Abul-Fotouh and Ezzat, and others in the trial of several charges, including leading the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organization that attempted to change the regime by force and executing terrorist attacks targeting judges, army and police personnel, and public institutions to topple the government.
Abul-Fotouh was among several candidates who ran unsuccessfully in elections that saw the Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi voted into power.
Abul-Fotouh, 71, was arrested in 2018 after joining a call to boycott that year's presidential election and was charged with spreading false news to harm national interests.
The charges included collecting, receiving, possessing, supplying, transporting, and providing funds and weapons for the banned Brotherhood, with the intent of using them to commit terrorist crimes and provide a haven for terrorists.
The prosecution also charged Abul-Fotouh, Hussam Hamid, and Ayman Hamid with "directly and indirectly committing a terrorist crime by preparing and training individuals to use weapons."
Abul-Fotouh was also accused of acquiring and possessing publications that promoted the Brotherhood's ideologies with the intention of distribution.
