Security forces kill alleged Ajnad Misr member in Giza raid

An alleged member of militant group Ajnad Misr was killed in an apartment raid in the Giza district of Imbaba on Saturday, Giza Security Directorate reported.

Security forces raided an apartment in Imbaba, where they were reportedly ambushed, according to the privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper. Two police officers, one working for the National Security Agency and another for Central Security Forces (riot police), both under the jurisdiction of the Interior Ministry, were injured during the raid. They responded with live fire, killing one man, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported, citing security sources. A machine gun was also confiscated at the scene.

Police forces reportedly killed two other members of Ajnad Misr in February in the southeastern Cairo district of Hadayek al-Maadi. Security sources claimed they were leading members of the group.

Ajnad Misr was declared a terrorist organization by the state in 2014. The group has claimed responsibility for several high-profile bombings and attacks on security forces in the last few years, saying their aim is to target “criminal elements in the security apparatus,” particularly officials responsible for the deaths of protesters.

One of the group’s largest operations was in April 2014, when a bomb targeted security forces stationed in front of Cairo University, resulting in the death of a senior police officer and the injury of five other police personnel.

A trial of 42 alleged members of the group is expected to resume on April 5. The defendants have been accused of targeting police and Armed Forces, as well as state institutions and public property.

Ajnad Misr leader Hammam Attia was killed by security forces on April 2015, which analysts said at the time could threaten the future of the group.

Egypt’s security forces have been consistently targeted by armed militants since the ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in 2013, amid a state-led crackdown on the actvities of anti-government groups and militant organizations, particularly in the Sinai Pennisula. 

The Interior Ministery reported that one soldier died and another was injured on Friday evening in Arish, North Sinai in a bomb attack. A civilian was also injured in the incident.

It has been difficult to verify reports of attacks on checkpoints and security forces in Sinai, with the majority of local news coverage only based on reports from Egypt's Armed Forces.