Egyptian police kill militant suspects in Sinai clashes

Police today killed two suspected militants wanted in connection with last year’s Sinai bombings.

The deaths followed two days of clashes in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula desert, the Interior Ministry said.

A statement quoted ministry officials as saying the men were killed during clashes with police in a mountainous region on the Sinai peninsula near Ras Sudr.

One of the slain men was identified as Hammad Gaman Gomah Tarabeen, a Bedouin tribesman suspected of involvement in the October 7 bombings of Sinai tourist resorts.

Police were unable to identify the other suspect because of the severity of his fatal injuries.

The statement said at least one policeman was killed and several others injured in the clashes, which began on Thursday.

Police started hunting for the suspects following earlier fighting in the area on Tuesday, which left Mohammed Abdel Rahman Badawi dead.

Badawi had been idntified as another suspect in the Taba Hilton and Ras Shitan resort bombings that killed 34 people.

A senior police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said some 600 security forces are still searching the area for at least three other suspects.