Egyptian security forces on Monday killed five suspected militants and arrested 10 others in raids in the north of the country, the interior ministry said in a statement.

The suspects had planned attacks against public infrastructure and Christians and had links with militants in North Sinai, it said. The raids took place in Alexandria and Qalyubiya provinces.

Egypt has regularly carried out arrest raids and reported the killing of militant suspects in recent months as it fights a years-old militant insurgency in the remote North Sinai region.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered the army and security forces to restore order in Sinai within three months after an attack on a mosque in November that was the deadliest in Egypt's modern history. ISIS is suspected to have conducted the attack in which more than 300 worshippers died.

Security forces have also faced attacks from other militants in the west of the country, near the border with Libya.

source: AFP