Eight suspected terrorists were killed by the Egyptian armed forces and police in the Western Desert, others were arrested, according to a military statement on Saturday.

The members of the ‘very dangerous’ suspected terrorist cell were planning to launch aggressive attacks aimed to shake the country and harm national security, the military said. The military has not provided further details of the specific place of the security raid.

The statement clarified that the raid and apprehension followed certain intelligence, in cooperation with the National Security Apparatus.

Furthermore, the military destroyed three vehicles and confiscated a large number of weapons, arms, and ammunition.

Meanwhile, the interior ministry said on Friday that a large campaign was launched in Fayoum governate and resulted in arresting suspects in nine cases including possession weapons, drugs trafficking, and other crimes.

Earlier last week, the Egyptian armed forces announced the killing of two suspected senior leaders of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in North Sinai in an army airstrike. The military said the strike followed certain intelligence over the gathering of a number of terrorists and their leaders in a hideout.

Since the fall of Islamist former President Mohamed Morsi in 2013, militants linked to the IS group and Al-Qaeda have intensified their terrorist campaigns against the country’s security forces. They use the Western Desert as hideout as well as a crossing point for militants and weapons from Libya.

In July 2014, at least 30 soldiers were killed when a heavily armed militant attacked security officers at the Farafra checkpoint on the Farafra-Cairo highway in Wadi Al-Jadid governorate.