16 policemen killed in Egypt shootout — official toll

CAIRO — Sixteen Egyptian policemen were killed in a shootout with militants on the road between Cairo and the Bahariya oasis in the country’s Western Desert, according to an official toll released Saturday.

The figure from the interior ministry was lower than a toll given earlier by security and medical sources of at least 35 Egyptian police officers killed in the clashes which began on Friday night.

The ministry said it had sent police to the area, less than 200 kilometres  southwest of Cairo, after learning that militants were there “hiding, training, and preparing to carry out terrorist operations”.

As the forces approached, the militants opened fire with heavy weapons, triggering a shootout that lasted for several hours and also left 13 police officers injured and one missing, the ministry said.

On Saturday armoured vehicles were seen parked on the road close to where the incident took place along with about 15 ambulances.

The ministry said that 15 militants were killed as security forces chased them into the desert after the clashes, adding that the search for suspects was continuing.

There has not yet been a claim of responsibility. A fake claim in the name of the small extremist group Hasam, reported by multiple local media, had spread on social media soon after the shootout.

Since the ouster of president Mohammad Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood, extremist groups have increased their attacks on the military and police.

Authorities have been fighting the Egyptian branch of the Daesh terror group, which has increased its attacks in the north of the Sinai Peninsula more than 500 kilometres away from the latest violence.

In response to the latest bloodshed Egyptian security forces appeared to step up their operations in the area of the attack.

Two truck drivers heading away from the scene told AFP they had seen heavy deployments of security personnel in the area and that aircraft were carrying out surveillance.

String of attacks 

The Muslim Brotherhood, once Egypt’s largest opposition movement, has long denied involvement in the attacks on the authorities.

Mohammad Morsi was elected as Egypt’s first civilian president in 2012, but the army overthrew him a year later following mass protests against the Islamist’s divisive rule.

Since then, an extensive crackdown on the group has left it in disarray with competing wings that have disagreed on whether to resort to violence, after police bloodily suppressed their protests.

Analysts say a section of the Brotherhood has encouraged armed assaults against the police.

Hasm has claimed multiple attacks since 2016 on police, officials and judges in Cairo.

In their statements, none of the militant groups claim any affiliation to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Hundred of soldiers and police have been killed in the grinding Daesh group insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula in the far northeast of the country.

On October 13, the Egyptian army said six soldiers were killed in a “terrorist” gun and grenade attack on a security post near the North Sinai provincial capital of El Arish. 

Daesh has maintained a steady war of attrition with sniper attacks and roadside bombings.

But unlike their parent organisation in Iraq and Syria, they have been unable to seize population centres in the peninsula, which borders Israel and Gaza.

In October 2015, Daesh claimed the bombing of a Russian airliner carrying holidaymakers home from the popular South Sinai resort of Sharm El Sheikh, killing all 224 people on board.