CAIRO, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has issued a decree for renewing the state of emergency nationwide for three months starting Monday, state-run Ahram newspaper said.
“The armed forces and the police will take necessary measures to fight terrorism and its finance, maintain security nationwide, protect public and private properties and preserve citizens’ lives,” said the decree, which was published in the official gazette. According to the Egyptian constitution, presidential decisions to renew the state of emergency must be approved by the country’s parliament. Al-Sisi first imposed a three-month nationwide state of emergency in April 2017, following bomb attacks at two churches in the northern provinces of Gharbiya and Alexandria that killed at least 47 and wounded over 120 others.
It has been constantly renewed in accordance with the constitution.
Egypt has been facing a wave of anti-security terror activities that killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Most of the attacks were claimed by the Wilayat Sinai, a Sinai-based group affiliated with the regional Islamic State militant group. Meanwhile, Egypt has launched a comprehensive operation to uproot terrorism since February 2018 that killed at least 1,000 militants.
