Militant accused of participating in Church bombings killed Suspect used explosive belt against forces resulting in his death, says Ministry of Interior
A militant suspected of participating in the bombing of the Abbassia Church last year and attacking the Minya bus last May was announced dead in the early hours of Monday, according to a statement from the Ministry of Interior. The statement said that investigations revealed that the suspect and his group are active in the highway linking Dirot with Al-Farafta oasis. Police forces chased the suspects and found one of them hiding in the desert. According to a statement, the forces approached the suspect, but he opened fire and used an explosive belt and was killed as a result. Police forces also found identification cards by the name of Abdallah Ismail. The suspect was also accused of attacking several police checkpoints in Upper Egypt in the last period. Upper Egypt has witnessed several clashes between militants and police forces. On Sunday, two militants were killed in clashes with police forces during an exchange of fire in Qaliubiya. The suspects may have been involved in the assassination of a police officer in the district of Al-Khanka. Earlier August, the city of Esna, north of Luxor, one suspect was arrested following a militant attack on a checkpoint, which killed a lower-ranking policeman and a civilian, and injured three others. The suspects were in a pickup truck and passed by the police checkpoint. When being searched, the police narrative says, as published by state media, police personnel took heavy fire, as the suspects escaped the scene, leaving the vehicle behind. The arrested suspect was carrying explosives and an explosive belt. The abandoned vehicle contained automatic weapons and a hand grenade. The suspect is currently being interrogated by the prosecution. In 10 August, a police officer and three suspects were killed in an exchange of fire in Qena governrate in a security raid. The killed officer was a major named Ahmed Abdel Fattah from the Central Security Forces. Shootings that target police, army officers, and state officials have become a near weekly occurrence in Egypt since the ousting of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. Although militant insurgency has been predominantly active in North Sinai, militant attacks targeting public facilities as well as police and army facilities and personnel have spilled out of the volatile peninsula, often in the form of drive-by shootings and improvised explosive device (IED) attacks.
