Egyptian police forces have killed five suspected militants in a shootout that took place in Upper Egypt's Sohag governorate, the Ministry of Interior announced on Monday. The suspected militants were plotting to carry out hostile operations, and that the shootout broke when security forces raided a suspected militant hideout in the Akhmim district in Sohag governorate, according to the statement. Moreover, ammunition, weapons, and organisational documents were seized in the raid, the statement added, without any information about any wounds, or casualties among the raiding police force. State security forces, represented through both the army, and the police have been engaged in clashes with various militants since 2013. The most prominent militant group was the "Sinai Province," a group previously known as "Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis." In 2014, the group declared it is an affiliation of Islamic State and has launched deadly attacks on army and police checkpoints. Earlier in August, police forces announced that six alleged militants were killed in an exchange of fire in the Sixth of October city, after investigations pointed out that they were planning to target Christians' worshiping places, as well as police and army personnel. In November 2017, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi vowed to restore stability by eradicating terrorism, placing the military and police in charge of completing the task within a period of three months. This had followed a massive first-of-its-kind terror attack on a mosque in the city of Al-Arish, which killed at least 305 citizens.
