CAIRO, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian security forces killed 21 terrorists during raids on their hideouts in North Sinai province northeastern the country, the Egyptian Interior Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

The security campaign targeted two hideouts in farms of North Sinai where the militants hid and plotted anti-security operations to be carried out during the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, the Islamic feast that kicks off on Sunday, according to the statement.

After intensive shootout, 21 terrorist were killed and the police found 17 machine guns, five explosives devices and two explosive belts in their possession.

"Two policemen were injured during the operation," the police said in the statement.

In early May, the Egyptian Interior Ministry said the forces killed 18 terrorists in North Sinai, a couple of days after a terror attack on a military armored vehicle left 10 soldiers either killed or wounded.

Egypt has been fighting a wave of terrorist activities that killed hundreds of policemen, soldiers and civilians since the ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 and the later security crackdown on his Muslim Brotherhood group, which is currently blacklisted as a terrorist organization.

Most terrorist attacks in Egypt over the past few years were claimed by a Sinai-based group loyal to the Islamic State regional terrorist group.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian security forces killed hundreds of terrorists and arrested thousands of suspects during the country's anti-terror war declared following Morsi's ouster. Enditem

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