Seven militants killed in Egypt army raid

Seven militants were killed late Wednesday in an army raid over the hardline hideouts in Egypt's north Sinai province, an army statement said Thursday.

"Seven dangerous jihadist elements loyal to the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood group were killed in southern Sheikh Zuweid city," Xinhua quoted army spokesman Ahmed Ali as saying in a statement posted on the army's Facebook account.

Gamil Soliman, also known as Joker who was involved in an attack that killed 16 soldiers in the border city of Rafah in northern Sinai last August, was among the dead.

Several vehicles equipped with anti-aircraft machine guns belonging to militants were destroyed during the raid, the statement added.

Security conditions have been deteriorating in Sinai since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi by the army last July.

Islamist militants took the peninsula as a stronghold for staging recurrent attacks against army and police premises.