Egypt police kill 12 'terrorists' in Sinai shootout

By Viola Fahmy

CAIRO (AA) – Egyptian police forces have killed a dozen suspected militants in a shootout in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, the Interior Ministry said Thursday.

“National security agents first spotted the 12 terrorists in Sinai’s [northeastern] city of Al-Arish,” flagship state daily Al-Ahram reported.

“Security forces then engaged them in a firefight and killed them,” the newspaper added, citing a ministry statement.

The reports have yet to be independently verified.

The Sinai Peninsula has remained the epicenter of a militant insurgency since mid-2013, when Mohamed Morsi -- Egypt’s first freely-elected president -- was ousted in a bloody military coup.

Since February, Egyptian security forces have been waging extensive operations against what they describe as “terrorist groups” based in Sinai and Egypt’s Western Desert.