MOI : Egypt's security forces kill 9 'terrorists' during raid in 6 of October city

Egypt's security forces investigate the site of an explosion in Six of October district in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Egyptian security forces on Wednesday killed nine members of the Muslim Brotherhood during a raid on their hide-out apartment in the western Cairo suburb of 6 of October city, the interior ministry said.

The  ministry said in a statement on Wednesday night that police had received intelligence information that the group was planning to carry out "terrorist" attacks around the date of the second anniversary of the 30 June mass protests which led to the overthrow of ousted Mohamed Morsi.

The officers shot the men after they opened fire on them while attempting to escape, Giza deputy security director Magdy Abd El-Aal had told told Ahram Arabic news website earlier in the evening.

The now-banned Muslim Brotherhood, which has been blamed by the government for orchestrating terrorist attacks against security forces in the last two years, denied that the men were armed.

The deadly raid came hours after militants from the Islamic State group killed dozens of soldiers and civilians in wide-scale simultaneous assaults on several military checkpoints in Egypt's North Sinai, and two days after the assassination  of the country's top prosecutor in a car bombing in Cairo.

Exclusive In Photos : Egypt's Sisi pledges stricter laws after murder of top prosecutor

A handout photo of Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, center, speaks at the funeral for Hisham Barakat, surrounded by his family members, Tuesday, 30 June, 2015

Family, El-Sisi and public officials bid farewell to Egypt's slain prosecutor Hisham Barakat

The wife of the Egyptian Prosecutor General who was killed in bomb attack a day earlier, right, and his daughter Marwa Barakat hold hands before his funeral in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has vowed to amend laws in Egypt within days to achieve "rapid justice" against militants a day after the assassination of the country's top public prosecutor.

"Swift justice is chained to laws," El-Sisi said in televised remarks to reporters as he left a military funeral for Hisham Barakat, whose convoy was struck by a car bomb attack on Monday.

An ambulance carrying the body of Egypt's slain chief prosecutor Hisham Barakat is surrounded by policemen and mourners moving to his funeral in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, June 30, 2015

The president said criminal laws will be adjusted "within days" to "confront the developments we are facing."

"We will make amendments to laws so we can achieve justice in the swiftest possible time," El-Sisi said.

The widow of Egypt's slain chief prosecutor Hisham Barakat receives condolences from mourners who wait to take his body to his funeral in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, June 30, 2015

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, judges and other public officials joined the family of slain prosecutor Hisham Barakat in an honorary military funeral on Tuesday

In the absence of parliament, President El-Sisi has wielded legislative authority.

Pall bearers carry the body of slain Egyptian Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat who was killed in bomb attack a day earlier, during his burial at a cemetery in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, June 30, 2015

The assassination of 65-year-old Barakat is the first of a high-ranking state official since the July 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

Mourners, many from the judiciary, attend the burial of slain Egyptian Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat who was killed in bomb attack a day earlier, at a cemetery in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, June 30, 2015

The killing of Barakat could signal a new escalation in an Islamist insurgency unleashed by Morsi's removal and a subsequent government crackdown on his supporters.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (C) and government ministers attend Egyptian public prosecutor Hisham Barakat's military funeral service at the Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi Mosque, in Cairo, Egypt, in this June 30, 2015

Several thousand Islamists have received prison terms, and hundreds sentenced to death in a number of mass trials, over violence related charges.

In this picture provided by the office of the Egyptian Presidency, a military carriage draws the flag draped coffin of Hisham Barakat, the top judicial official in charge of overseeing the prosecution of thousands of Islamists, including former President Mohammed Morsi, at his funeral in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, was sentenced to death earlier this month over incitement of murder charges in a mass jailbreak case in 2011.

The coffin with the body of Egyptian public prosecutor Hisham Barakat is carried during his military funeral service at the Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi Mosque in Cairo, Egypt, in this June 30, 2015

However, the president said that up until now "not a single exceptional measure has been taken" in reference to the government's use of its current laws in its fight against terrorism.

In this picture provided by the office of the Egyptian Presidency, a military procession accompanies the casket of Hisham Barakat, the top judicial official in charge of overseeing the prosecution of thousands of Islamists, including former President Mohammed Morsi, at his funeral in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, June 30, 2015

El-Sisi said the judiciary would not wait for years to prosecute militants, adding that they give orders for their deadly attacks "from inside their [prison] cages."

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (C) speaks to the media near the family of Egyptian public prosecutor Hisham Barakat after Barakat's military funeral service at the Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi Mosque in Cairo, Egypt, in this June 30, 2015

"If a death sentence or a life term is handed down, it will be implemented."

Verdicts meted out against Islamists can be appealed in a process that could take years to reach a final verdict.

Egypt's constitution allows the president to issue pardons after a ruling is final.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi (5th L) and government ministers attend during Egyptian public prosecutor Hisham Barakat's military funeral service at the Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi Mosque in Cairo, Egypt, in this June 30, 2015

El-Sisi has repeatedly said he cannot intervene in court procedures, stressing that doing so would undermine judicial independence.

#Qatar's #emir to attend #Sharm #Arab summit, Egypt minister says

Qatar's emir to attend Sharm Arab summit, Egypt minister says

Despite tensions with Cairo, Egyptian minister says Qatar's emir will attend an Arab League summit due later this month in Sharm El-Sheikh

Emir of Qatar Sheik Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani

Qatar's emir will attend an Arab League summit due to take place in Egypt later this month, an Egyptian official said, sign of a possible ease in political tensions between the two Arab states.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said in comments to private TV channel Sada El-Balad on Tuesday that Egypt "has received a notification" that Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad will participate in the annual gathering of the 22-member bloc.

The 26th Arab League summit will take place on March 28-29 in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, with national security in the Arab countries topping the agenda, officials say.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman is expected to lead a line-up of Arab leaders at the summit who will also include Iraqi President Fouad Masoum.

Egypt and Qatar have fallen out over Doha's backing of Egyptian Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, who was ousted in 2013, and his Muslim Brotherhood group. 

Cairo has been incensed by Doha's hosting of several exiled leaders of the Brotherhood, now banned and designated a terrorist organisation by Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Qatar's emir did not attend a global investor conference Egypt hosted earlier this month in the coastal city. But a delegation from his country headed by a top economic ministry official participated in the three-day international gathering which saw Egypt secure $12 billion of investments and central bank deposits from Arab Gulf allies of Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, and sign billions of dollars of deals.

In February, Qatar recalled its ambassador to Cairo over a spat at a meeting of the league in Cairo where Egypt's delegates accused Doha of supporting terrorism.

The new flare-up of tension came after Qatar expressed reservations over Egypt's recent air strikes against Islamic State group targets in Libya in response to the beheading of 20 Egyptian Coptic Christians.

Qatar's suspension in December 2014 of its Egypt-focused Al Jazeera channel, accused by Cairo of serving as a mouthpiece for the Brotherhood, as well as its banishing of seven Brotherhood leaders in September were seen as good-will gestures by Doha to mend relations between both states.  

Bomb wounds four policemen in #Egypt's #Sinai

The explosive was planted at the entrance of an apartment building in the provincial capital of Al-Arish



Four Egyptian policemen were wounded on Monday by a bomb in the volatile Sinai Peninsula, security sources said.

The explosive was planted at the entrance of an apartment building in the provincial capital of Al-Arish, said the sources.

Security forces face a jihadist insurgency that has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since the ouster islamist Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist group in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.

Most attacks have been in the Sinai, which borders Israel and the Gaza Strip.

Security officials say Sinai-based militants are inspired by Islamic State, the al Qaeda offshoot that controls parts of Iraq and Syria and wants to redraw the map of the Middle East.