Egypt says security forces kill 15 militants in Sinai

CAIRO – Egypt says its police forces have killed 15 suspected militants in a raid in the restive northern part of the Sinai Peninsula.

An Interior Ministry statement Sunday says security forces exchanged fire with the militants as they stormed their hideout in the Mediterranean coastal city of el-Arish.

No casualties were reported among the police. The statement did not say when the raid took place.

The statement came three days after an Islamic State attack on a checkpoint in the town of Bir el-Abd killed eight troops and a civilian. Security forces killed at least 15 militants in that attack.

Egypt has battled an insurgency led by an Islamic State affiliate for years in the Sinai Peninsula that has occasionally spilled over to the mainland.