CAIRO, May 2 (UPI) -- Heavy clashes erupted between Egyptian anti-terror squads and runaway terror suspects believed to be involved in last week's Sinai bombings.
A security official said Tuesday the clashes with automatic rifles and bombs went on overnight until dawn across rugged terrain and almost inaccessible mountain corridors on the peninsula.
Anti-terror squads are encircling caves and corridors where the fugitives are believed to be holed up south of the city of Arish.
The official described the clashes as very bloody as the fugitives put up a strong resistance using hand grenades, automatic arms, explosives and mines to prevent the government squads from approaching.
He said the bloodiest clashes occurred in the region of Hasna, some 43 miles south of Arish.
The interior ministry announced Monday that an officer was killed and two squad members were injured in the clashes in which three of the fugitives were also slain.
Earlier, police said they killed three gunmen, including Salim Atallah Hussein al-Diout, a main suspect in the bombings that rocked Dahab resort in which at least 18 people were killed and 60 others wounded, according to the latest official count.
Previous figures said as many as 23 people were killed, including three foreigners, with 85 others injured.
Security officials said police were chasing four main suspects, including Nasser Khamis Malahi, who is believed to be the mastermind of the Dahab bombings and two suicide attacks that targeted U.N. peacekeepers in Sinai two days after the resort bombing.
The authorities accuse Malahi of being a member of the network which executed the bombings of Taba and Sharm el-Sheikh resorts in 2004 and 2005.
Malahi is believed to be the leader of a new group, Tawheed and Jihad, based in Sinai and connected with al-Qaida.
