Egyptian police have killed a senior leader of Ansar Bait Al-Maqdis in a shootout north of Cairo, the interior ministry revealed yesterday.
The statement said Egyptian security services spotted Ashraf Ali Al-Gharably in a vehicle and gunned him down after he resisted arrest in the El-Marg neighbourhood of Cairo.
“He sensed their presence and shot at them in an attempt to flee, requiring the police forces to exchange fire with him leading to his death,” the Egyptian interior ministry said in a statement.
According to the statement, the Egyptian authorities considered Al-Gharably as one of the most dangerous criminals in the country who is believed to have organised and personally led several high-profile attacks, including the assassination of Mohamed Al-Saied, a former interior minister, in 2013, and the bombing of the Italian consulate in Cairo this summer.
Al-Gharably was the group’s leader in the Central Military Region and the Bahariya Oasis, the ministry statement said.
Ansar Bait Al-Maqdis is considered the most active terrorist organisation in Egypt, which pledged allegiance to Daesh in November 2014 and changed its name to the Sinai Province of the Islamic State.