4 ‘terrorists’ killed in southern Egypt:Security source

CAIRO (AA) - Four “terrorist elements” were killed in an exchange of fire with security forces in Egypt’s southern Assiut province, a local security source said Wednesday.

In remarks quoted by the state press, the source -- who was not named -- said security forces had killed four members of a “terrorist cell” operating in Assiut.

According to the same source, Egypt’s Interior Ministry-run National Security Agency had located members of the terrorist cell in Assiut’s residential Suhajyah district.

In a subsequent security operation, four cell members were killed while the area was cordoned off by police, the unnamed source added.

Anadolu Agency could not independently verify the source’s assertions.

Human rights groups have accused Egyptian security forces of killing political dissidents while being arrested -- claims the Egyptian authorities deny.

Since Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, was ousted in a 2013 military coup, hundreds of Egyptian security personnel have been killed in militant attacks across the country, especially in the volatile Sinai Peninsula.