CAIRO, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi visited in hospital on Wednesday the freed policeman who was abducted by terrorists during a recent anti-police attack south of the capital Cairo, the Egyptian state TV reported.
The report showed photos of the President Sisi, accompanied by Interior Minister Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar, visiting police officer Mohamed al-Hayes while the latter was receiving treatment at a military hospital in Cairo.
Hayes was freed by security forces on Tuesday after he was abducted during police confrontations with terrorists in a desert area on the outskirts of Giza southern Cairo, that left 16 policemen killed and 13 wounded. The two-day clashes that started on October 20 also left 15 militants either dead or injured.
On Tuesday, the Egyptian air forces killed "a large number of terrorists" and destroyed three vehicles loaded with weapons, explosives and ammunition during a raid at a mountainous area western Fayoum province south of Cairo.
Last week, the security forces also announced the killing of 12 "very dangerous terrorist elements" in the western desert region of Al-Wahat where the 16 policemen were killed.
Egypt has been battling a wave of terrorism that has killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since the military toppled former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to mass protests against his one-year rule and his now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.
Terror attacks have been centered in North Sinai before spreading nationwide and targeting the Coptic minority as well, with most of them claimed by a Sinai-based group affiliated with the regional Islamic State (IS) militant group.
The Egyptian military and police have killed hundreds of militants and arrested a similar number of suspects as part of the country's anti-terror war declared by President Sisi, the army chief then, following Morsi's removal.
