CAIRO: Egyptian troops shot dead an Islamist militant described as a leader of the Sinai group that claimed a failed attempt on the life of the interior minister and the murder of a high-level security official, the military said yesterday.
Attacks on soldiers and policemen in the Sinai Peninsula, bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, have become commonplace since the army ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July in the face of mass unrest over his rule.
The army said Ibrahim Abou Eita was killed in an exchange of gunfire with soldiers near the town of Sheikh Zuweid in Sinai and it described him as a leader of the Islamist militant group Ansar Bayt Al Maqdis. The army referred to Abou Eita, also known as Abou Suheib, in a statement on Facebook as “one of the most dangerous” militants in North Sinai who had been sought for attacks on security forces in the region.
Ansar Bayt Al Maqtis claimed responsibility for killing an official who security sources say had been due to testify in one of several legal cases against Mursi, and for a bid to kill Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim with a car bomb in September.Reuters
