Egypt army kills leading extremist figure in Sinai

The Egyptian army killed a prominent extremist figure of notorious al-Qaida-inspired Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis on Friday in North Sinai province, a security source told Xinhua. "The army forces set up an ambush for Nour al-Hamadeen, an extremist involved in terrorist attacks in Rafah, chased and clashed with him, which led to his death," the source added. On the other hand, two Muslim Brotherhood supporters were killed after exchanging fire with police on Friday at Gharbiya province, 120 km north of the capital Cairo, official MENA news agency reported. The two attempted to set fire to a traffic checkpoint at a village in Gharbiya, leading to clashes with security forces that ended up with their death, while a third one managed to run away. Since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi by the military last July, attacks against security personnel and buildings have mounted and Islamist militants are using the peninsula as a stronghold for these assaults. Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis group has claimed responsibility for many of the reported attacks. The group has recently been blacklisted by the United States as "a foreign terrorist group."