
File Photo: An Egyptian Military Courts Complex (Ahram)
An Egyptian military court has set 13 October for the sentencing of 43 defendants involved in the deadly Wahat terrorist attack that killed 16 policemen and left 13 injured in late 2017.
The sentencing session was initially slated for Sunday but was postponed due to complications in transferring the defendants from the prison where they are being held.
The Egyptian prosecution referred the defendants to military trial in October 2018.
According to the prosecution, the defendants include members of the Islamic State terrorist group, as well as the primary defendant in the case, Abdel-Rahim Al-Mesmary, who is a Libyan national.
In October 2017, 11 police officers, four conscripts and one sergeant were killed in a shootout while raiding a terrorist hideout in Bahariya Oasis, about 135 kilometres (83 miles) southwest of Cairo.
The ministry of interior said at the time that 15 terrorists were killed during the shootout.
The prosecutors charged Al-Mesmary and the other defendants in the case with premeditated murder, attempted murder, membership in a terrorist group and attacks on army and police personnel, among other charges.
A police officer, Mohamed El-Hayes, was abducted by terrorists during the shootout, but the Egyptian army and police rescued him in a joint operation later that month.
Following the shootout, Egyptian security forces launched a number of operations targeting hideouts in the Western Desert area, during which numerous terrorists were killed, according to officials.
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