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Egypt police kill top Daesh militant in Cairo

This file photo shows Velayat Sinai militants, previously known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, in Egypt's troubled Sinai Peninsula. (AFP photo)

The Egyptian Interior Ministry says police have managed to kill a top member of the Daesh Takfiri militant group in the capital, Cairo.

According to a Monday statement, Ashraf Ali Hassanein al-Gharabli was shot dead after police tried to arrest him in Cairo's El-Marg district.

The ministry said that police tracked down Hassanein in the capital, adding that he opened fire on them when they tried to arrest him as he drove a car.  

"He sensed them and shot at them, in an attempt to flee, requiring the police forces to exchange fire with him leading to his death," the ministry statement said.

Involved in a string of terror attacks, Hassanein was put on a wanted list as early as January 2014, months after Takfiris started a deadly militancy centered in Egypt's restive Sinai Peninsula.

This file photo shows Egyptian special forces patrolling the streets of Cairo. (AFP photo) 

The highly sought after militant was also implicated in a bomb attack on the Italian consulate in Cairo last July.

Police officials say Hassanein had been the right-hand man of Hisham al-Eshmawi, a former commando who is thought to have led a number of bombings and assassinations in Cairo for the militant Ansar Beit al-Maqdis group, which is now known as Velayat Sinai.

Eshmawia left the group after it pledged allegiance to the Daesh terrorist group, which is mainly operating in Iraq and neighboring Syria, in November 2014, prompting Hassanein to become one of the group's top operatives west of Sinai.

The Egyptian military has been engaged in operations to quell acts of terrorism and militancy in the Sinai Peninsula. It views the volatile region as a safe haven for extremists.

Velayat Sinai has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks in Sinai that have left tens of people dead or injured in the past months. 


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