‘Egypt police killed six militants in northern Sinai’

CAIRO — Egyptian police have killed six militants in a shootout in the restive northern Sinai region, the interior ministry said on Monday.

The firefight broke out as police forces raided a hideout of "terrorist elements" intent on carrying out "hostile operations", it said.

Egypt's security forces are battling a long-running insurgency in the peninsula, spearheaded by a local affiliate of the Daesh group.

Weapons and explosives were found in the militants' possession, the ministry added, in a statement released along with gruesome photos of the slain militants.

The date of the raid was not specified.

The Islamist insurgency in North Sinai escalated following the military's 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

Scores of policemen and soldiers have since been killed in militant attacks.

Last month, Daesh said it had blown up a gas pipeline in the Sinai Peninsula, saying it was connected to Israel.

Security sources, however, said the targeted pipeline was a domestic one.

Cairo launched a nationwide operation against militants in February 2018, mainly focusing on North Sinai province.

Since then, over 845 suspected militants have been killed in the region along with more than 60 security personnel, according to army figures.