Leader in Egyptian Islamic State affiliate killed in air raid

CAIRO, EGYPT: A leader in Islamic State's Egyptian affiliate was killed in an air raid last month, the Egyptian military said on Sunday. "Following the results of the air raid on March 18... and upon the security apparatus's investigation, it was revealed that Salem Salmy al-Hamadeen, Aka Abu Anas al-Ansari, was killed," the military spokesman said in a statement.



Hamadeen was one of the founders of the group which was formerly called Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, now called Egypt's Sinai Province, and was responsible for arming and training militants.



He died after being wounded in the air raid, the statement said. The group announced in their latest weekly newsletter that he was killed by shrapnel from a missile that fell beside him. The militant group staging the insurgency pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2014 and adopted the name Sinai Province.

It is blamed for killing hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police since then.