Egypt says 13 militants killed in North Sinai

Egyptian security forces killed 13 suspected militants in a raid in the restive North Sinai, the interior ministry said Tuesday. Police raided a hideout in a deserted farmhouse in El-Arish, the provincial capital of North Sinai, triggering a shootout, the ministry said in a statement.

Weapons including explosive devices, rifles, and guns were found, it said, without giving the date of the operation. Egypt has for years been fighting an insurgency in North Sinai that escalated after the military's 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi following mass protests.

The military has launched a nationwide offensive since February 2018 against Islamist militants focusing on North Sinai where a local affiliate of the Islamic State group is based. Some 750 suspected jihadists and around 60 soldiers have since been killed, according to official figures. 

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