Video| Egyptian state TV shows footage of al-Wahat terrorist attack

Cairo – Egyptian state television on Saturday morning screened footage of the battle site of the deadly shootout in al-Wahat al-Bahriya area in the Giza province, about 135 kilometers (84 miles) from Cairo.

Mustafa Abdel Fattah, Egyptian state TV’s correspondent, said that there was an intensive security alert on the highway at 135 km. area. More than 24 ambulance cars rushed immediately to the scene, indicating the high-alert operation carried out by the security forces inside the desert. Combing the area is underway in the al-Wahat al-Bahriya area on Egypt’s Western Desert to hunt down the terrorists that targeted the police forces.

Abdel Fattah continued: “Al-Wahat Road” has been operating since our arrival of the scene, traffic flow is also normal with the deployment of intensive security forces.

Al-Wahat terrorist attack – archive photo

Details of Friday’s deadly shootout remain unclear. The Interior Ministry said the shootout took place during a raid to arrest a number of suspected militants in the area.

Security sources said the forces were ambushed during the raid.

Local media and unnamed security sources put the death toll of security forces at around 60. Egyptian authorities did not yet give any official death toll.

Egypt has been battling an insurgency since 2013 immediately after dislodging Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, following mass protest against his disastrous rule.

The insurgency has been concentrated in the northern Sinai Peninsula, but attacks have spread in the mainland, including the capital.

Egypt has been under a state of emergency since April when a twin church attack killed scores of innocent worshippers.