Security forces kill Egypt militant leader: officials

CAIRO: Security forces in the Sinai peninsula killed the leader of Egypt´s deadliest militant group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, along with three senior members overnight, officials said early Friday.

Several high-ranking security officials confirmed the death of Shadi el-Menei, considered to be the head of the Sinai-based Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (Partisans of Jerusalem), an Al-Qaeda inspired militant group that has spearheaded a wave of attacks targeting security forces since the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July.

Such attacks have been carried out in retaliation to a state crackdown on Morsi supporters that has left more than 1,400 killed and at least 15,000 jailed since the Islamist´s overthrow.

Security forces opened fire on the four men as they were in a car in central Sinai, the officials said.

The group was about to carry out an attack on a gas pipeline, they added. Ansar Beit al-Maqdis has claimed some of the deadliest and high-profile attacks on Egyptian security forces since Morsi´s ouster, including a failed assassination attempt against the interior minister last September.

In April, the US department of State has designated the group as a "foreign terrorist organisation".

One of the group´s founders, Tawfiq Mohamed Fareej, was killed in March, when a car accident set off a bomb he was carrying.