Egypt confirms it's killed 10 militants behind Alexandria bombing

The Interior Ministry's Thursday statement presented the raids as recent events, but they appear to have taken place soon after a bomb attack in March.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab & agencies

29 June, 2018

Site of March's bomb attack in Alexandria targeting security chief [Getty]

Egypt's security forces killed 10 militants involved in a terror attack that targeted Alexandria's former security chief in March.

The Interior Ministry said Thursday that six were killed in a shootout in Beheira province and another four were killed in a clash in Assiut. It says two others were arrested.

The statement did not specify when the raids took place. However, the ministry reported the Beheira shootout in March and a security official confirmed the Assuit raid on Wednesday.

The militants allegedly involved in the attack against Alexandria's security chief General Mostafa al-Nimr belonged to the Hasm movement, what government officials consider a splinter group of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood that briefly held power in Egypt between 2012-2013.

The official survived the convoy attack, but two other police officers were killed.

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The 24 March terror attacks occured on the eve of Egypt's 26-28 March presidential election that saw Abdel Fattah al-Sisi comfortably win reelection.

The country's election was widely viewed as neither free nor fair. Sisi's sole opponent, Moussa Moustafa Moussa, is believed to have enlisted in the race as Sisi's sole opponent to avoid a single-candidate election.

He endorsed Sisi just days before registering at the eleventh hour.

Five major candidates - including Sami Anan and Ahmad Shafiq - were either sidelined or jailed in the lead up to the polls.

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