Egyptian security forces killed 16 suspected armed fighters in two separate raids in the city of Arish in the restive northern Sinai Peninsula, state media said on Tuesday.

The report came the day after an explosion in central Cairo killed three policemen.

The National Security Department was monitoring "two terrorist cells, planning to carry out a series of terrorist attacks against vital installations and important figures in El Arish city," according to an Interior Ministry statement.

The state-run Al Ahram agency said 10 suspected fighters were killed in the Obeidat district and another six were killed in the Abu Eita district of the city.

An undisclosed quantity of weapons, ammunition and explosives were found with the six in Abu Eita.

The two sides exchanged gunfire, it said without elaborating. It made no mention of any security forces casualties.

The suspected fighters' bodies were taken to several hospitals in the city of Ismailia to be examined and identified, security and medical sources said.

Ongoing armed campaign in Sinai

The Sinai Peninsula has remained the epicentre of an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) offensive since 2013, when elected president Mohamed Morsi was overthrown in a military coup.

In February 2018, security forces launched a major operation against the local affiliate of ISIL, which has been mainly focused on volatile North Sinai province but has also targeted cells elsewhere in the country.

Egypt has often announced the killing of fighters during Operation Sinai 2018, but statements on significant losses by the security force have been rare.

On Saturday, the army reported that an attack on a checkpoint in North Sinai left 15 soldiers dead or wounded and seven of the suspected assailants killed.

Amnesty International has criticised the Egyptian army for using banned cluster bombs in their air raids on the area, describing them as the "vilest weapons in modern warfare ... capable of killing and maiming civilians for years after their deployment".</s>Archaeologists in Egypt have uncovered an ancient shipyard in the north of the country’s Sinai Peninsula, thought to be at least 2,000 years old.

In a Facebook post, Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities explained that the site contains two dry docks, separated by a rectangular building.

Egyptian officials explain that the excavations took place at the Tel Abu Saifi archaeological site, which is said to have been the location of the Roman fortress of Silla

The shipyard dates back to the Ptolemaic era between 332 B.C. and 30 B.C. and was once connected to a branch of the Nile via a lake Both the lake and the branch of the Nile have since dried up, according to Luxor Times.

In addition to pieces of wood that may have been used to repair boats, archaeologists found ancient nails, pottery and fish bones at the site.

The Ptolemaic dynasty was founded by one of Alexander the Great’s officers and ended with the suicide of Cleopatra VII in 30 B.C., marking the start of the Roman era in Egypt. Roman rule lasted until the Islamic conquest in the 7th century.

Egypt continues to reveal fresh details of its rich history. The skeleton of a 13-year-old girl, for example, was recently discovered in a mysterious grave near an ancient Egyptian pyramid.

In other projects, experts discovered dozens of mummies in ancient desert burial chambers and explained the strange brown spots on some of the paintings in King Tutankhamun’s tomb.

Last month, archaeologists also announced the discovery of ancient tombs in the Nile Delta north of Cairo. In a separate project, two ancient tombs dating back to the Roman period were uncovered in Egypt’s Western Desert.

In November, archaeologists confirmed the discovery of eight limestone sarcophagi containing mummies at a site 25 miles south of Cairo. Last year, researchers also uncovered a "massive" building that was once part of Egypt’s ancient capital city.

In another project, archaeologists discovered a stunning sphinx statue at an ancient temple in southern Egypt.

Last summer, experts unlocked the secrets of a mysterious ancient ‘cursed’ black granite sarcophagus. The massive coffin, which was excavated in the city of Alexandria, was found to contain three skeletons and gold sheets with the remains.

Archaeologists also found the oldest solid cheese in the tomb of Ptahmes, mayor of the ancient city of Memphis.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

A mummy buried in southern Egypt more than 5,000 years ago has also revealed its grisly secrets, shedding new light on prehistoric embalming practices.

Fox News’ Chris Ciaccia and The Associated Press contributed to this article. Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers</s>Egyptian security forces have killed 16 suspected militants in two separate raids in the city of Arish in North Sinai, state media says.

The report came on Tuesday, the day after an explosion in central Cairo killed three policemen.

Ten suspected militants were killed in the Obeidat district of Arish and another six were killed in the Abu Eita district of the city, state-run Al Ahram said.

An undisclosed quantity of weapons, ammunition and explosives were found with the six in Abu Eita.

The two sides exchanged gunfire, it said without elaborating. It made no mention of any security forces casualties.

The suspected militants' bodies were taken to several hospitals in the city of Ismailia to be examined and identified, security and medical sources said.

Egypt has been fighting an Islamist militant insurgency since 2013, mostly concentrated in North Sinai.</s>CAIRO (AP) — Egypt says archaeologists have uncovered an ancient workshop used to build and repair ships that dates back to the Ptolemaic era (332 B.C.-30 B.C.) in the Sinai Peninsula.

The Antiquities Ministry says Tuesday that excavations took place in the Tel Abu Saifi archaeological site in Northern Sinai. The site is said to have been the location of the Roman fortress of Silla.

Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, says the workshop includes two dry dockyards where ships were built or repaired.

The Greco-Roman period in Egypt spans from its fall to Alexander the Great in the 4th century B.C. to the Islamic conquest in the 7th century.

Egypt hopes such discoveries will spur tourism, which suffered a major setback during the unrest that followed the 2011 uprising.

Copyright © 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.</s>Egypt's military said Wednesday that eight suspected jihadists who had taken part in a deadly attack on an army checkpoint last week were killed in the restive North Sinai.

"Eight extremely dangerous terrorists have been eliminated," army spokesman Tamer el-Refai said in a statement, adding that security forces had also destroyed their hideouts and seized ammunition.

An attack Saturday on a checkpoint near the town of El-Arish, claimed by the Islamic State group, left 15 soldiers dead or wounded, according to the army.

The interior ministry said Tuesday that 16 suspected jihadists had also been killed.

Since the army's overthrow of elected Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, hundreds of soldiers and police have died in attacks by extremist groups.

Civilians have also been targeted in jihadist attacks, particularly members of Egypt's minority Coptic Christian community.

Egypt's army launched a major operation against the jihadists in early 2018, originally scheduled to run three months, after an attack in North Sinai killed more than 300 people at a mosque.

The army says more than 550 suspected jihadists have been killed in its "Sinai 2018" offensive -- which has also targeted militants elsewhere in Egypt -- costing the lives of more than 30 soldiers.

No independent figures are available and North Sinai is largely cut off to media and foreigners.</s>ISIS has claimed responsibility for an attack in North Sinai on Saturday which it said killed 20 Egyptian military troops, the group’s AMAQ news agency said.

 

The group gave no evidence for its claim.

 

The Egyptian military said earlier on Saturday that seven militants had been killed and 15 Egyptian military personnel killed or wounded in the clash.

Security forces launched a campaign a year ago against extremist militants focused on Egypt's Sinai peninsula, and say they have killed several hundred militants since then.

"Combing operations and the pursuit and elimination of the terrorist elements in the area where the incident took place is ongoing," the military spokesman had said in a statement.</s>The Western Journal has not reviewed this Associated Press story prior to publication. Therefore, it may contain editorial bias or may in some other way not meet our normal editorial standards. It is provided to our readers as a service from The Western Journal.

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt on Wednesday executed nine suspected Muslim Brotherhood members convicted of involvement in the 2015 assassination of the country’s top prosecutor, security officials said.

The nine were found guilty of taking part in the bombing that killed Hisham Barakat, the first assassination of a senior official in Egypt in a quarter century. Barakat was also the most senior official killed since the military overthrew an elected but divisive Islamist president in 2013.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media, said the families of the men were told to pick up their bodies from a Cairo morgue.

A total of 15 people have been executed in Egypt since the start of the year. Three were hanged earlier this month for their involvement in the 2014 killing of a judge’s son in the Nile Delta town of Mansoura. Authorities executed another three for killing a police officer in Cairo in September 2013. Rights groups decried the executions, saying the men were sentenced to death following torture and beatings to extract confessions.

According to rights groups, authorities have executed at least 165 people since July 2013, including at least 32 between January and November 2018.

TRENDING: Waters Once Dominated by Great Whites Now Ruled by a New Species of Shark

Amnesty International on Tuesday called on Egypt to halt the latest executions, saying that some defendants said they were forcibly disappeared and confessed under torture.

“There is no doubt that those involved in deadly attacks must be prosecuted and held accountable for their actions, but executing prisoners or convicting people based on confessions extracted through torture is not justice,” said Amnesty’s Najia Bounaim.

Egypt’s highest appeals court upheld the death sentences in November. It commuted six other death sentences to life in prison. Death sentences were also handed down in 2017 to 13 defendants tried in absentia. They will be eligible for a new trial if they surrender or are captured. Turkey deported one of the 13 last month.

The Muslim Brotherhood was Egypt’s best-organized opposition movement for decades and won a series of elections after an Arab Spring uprising in 2011 ended President Hosni Mubarak’s nearly three-decade rule.

But President Mohammed Morsi, a senior Brotherhood figure elected in 2012, proved divisive, and the military removed him from power amid mass protests against his rule a year later.

Since then, authorities have waged an extensive crackdown on Islamists, arresting and detaining thousands and sentencing them to harsh prison terms. The Brotherhood has been banned and declared a terrorist group.

Islamic militants have, meanwhile, stepped up attacks since Morsi’s 2013 overthrow. An Islamic State affiliate based in the northern Sinai Peninsula has repeatedly targeted security forces and the Christian minority. Another group, known as Hasm, which has targeted security forces, has been linked to the Brotherhood.

The assassination of Barakat recalled one of Egypt’s darkest chapters, when Islamic militants and the state security apparatus engaged in retaliatory killings for nearly a decade starting in 1990. That year, the militants gunned down Parliament speaker Rifaat el-Mahgoub in Cairo, the last assassination of a senior official. There were attempts against other ministers until the insurgency was crushed in the late 1990s.

Also on Wednesday the military said in a statement that security forces killed eight suspected militants and destroyed seven hideouts and weapons depots and two car bombs in the restive north of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

The military statement gave no time frame for the recent operations. It wasn’t possible to independently confirm the details as access to northern Sinai is heavily restricted.

Wednesday’s statement came days after the Islamic State claimed an attack on an army checkpoint in northern Sinai left 15 troops and seven militants dead.

Egypt has been battling Islamic militants for years. Last year, the government launched a broad security operation focused on northern Sinai, where an Islamic State affiliate has carried out many attacks in recent years.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Sixteen militants are killed in two different raids in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. A number of weapons and explosives are also found in the raids.