Egypt sentences seven to death for killing policemen

Cairo: An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced seven Islamists to death for killing 25 policemen in the country's Sinai peninsula in 2013.

The Cairo court delivered its verdict against the seven Islamists, including prominent militant leader Adel Habara, over the killing of dozens of policemen in Sinai province, Xinhua reported.

Three more defendants were sentenced to 25 years in prison, and 22 received 15-year imprisonment terms.

In August 2013, militants ambushed two buses carrying recruits from their base in Rafah city to their homes for vacations. At least 25 policemen were killed and many others injured in the attack.

Habara has already been sentenced to death in absentia for bomb attacks in the Sinai tourist resort of Taba in 2004 and Dahab in 2006. The attacks claimed at least 42 lives.

The seven defendants were also accused of killing police personnel in the Delta governorate of Sharqiya as well as collaborating with the Al-Qaeda terrorist group in Iraq.

Egypt has been facing a rising wave of terrorist attacks since the military ousted former Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in July 2013.

The attacks have targeted security and army men as well as their premises in the restive Sinai, and then extended to hit the capital and provinces across the country.