Egypt kills six militants from group it accuses of Alexandria bombing
Egypt’s police killed six militants on Sunday belonging to a group the authorities accuse of a bombing in the coastal city of Alexandria that targeted a security chief two days before the country holds a presidential election.
The Alexandria security chief General Mostafa al-Nemr survived a car bombing aimed at his convoy on Saturday, two days ahead of presidential elections. Two policemen were killed.
The interior ministry said in a statement that police tracked down the cell belonging to the militant Hasam movement in Behaira province, killing six of them in an exchange of fire.
Police identified three of those killed. The ministry said its investigations showed the same group had carried out Saturday’s bombing. The ministry did not indicate if those killed on Sunday were believed to have taken part in the bombing.
Police accuse Hasam of being an armed branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, banned after the army ousted president Mohamed Morsi, a Brotherhood member, in 2013.
The militant Hasam Movement emerged in 2016 and has claimed several attacks on security forces and judges, including the fatal shooting of a policeman. Egyptian authorities say the group is the Brotherhood’s armed wing, but the Brotherhood says it rejects violence.
The army chief who led the coup, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, won an election a year later.
He is running in this week's election against a little-known rival and is expected to win after all the serious contenders in the race pulled out or were arrested.
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