Two “extremely dangerous” terrorists have been killed by Egyptian security forces in a shootout in North Sinai, Egypt’s interior ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

The two terrorists, who were attempting to gather information about security checkpoints in the area as part of a plot to launch a series of attacks, were killed after they fired shots at police who were attempting to apprehend them, according to the statement.

The ministry said that police retrieved from the scene two automatic rifles, ammunition, and a weapon that was stolen by the suspects in an earlier attack on a policeman in August 2017 in North Sinai’s Bir Al-Abd.

The interior ministry said it acted upon information gathered by its National Security Bureau that terrorists were scouting North Sinai’s Galbana area in preparation for carrying out attacks against army and police personnel on the seventh anniversary of the 30 June Revolution.

Egypt has been conducting Comprehensive Operation Sinai 2018 for the past two years to combat takfiri elements in Norh Sinai.