Egypt army kills 18 Sinai extremists

At least 18 extremists were killed and 10 arrested Saturday in security raids on their hideouts in Egypt's North Sinai province, a security source said.

Two security raids were launched at dawn time on three towns southern Sheikh Zuweid," Xinhua quoted the source as saying, noting that the extremists mostly belong to Al Qaeda-inspired Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis group and that leading member Salama al-Dahbish was one of those killed Saturday.

Machine guns, explosive devices and ammunition belonging to the extremists were seized and two vehicles with cannons, seven houses and four bikes were destroyed during the security campaigns according to the source.

Since the beginning of September, the ongoing massive security campaign on Sinai extremists have left about 100 of them killed and tens arrested.

Anti-government militant attacks have surged in Sinai and other Egyptian provinces, including the capital Cairo, since former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi was ousted by the military in July 2013, following mass protests against his one-year reign.

Since Morsi's overthrow, security crackdown against his supporters and his Muslim Brotherhood group left about 1,000 killed and thousands others arrested.