Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II attempted on Monday to reassure Egyptians after the recent attacks on Copts in North Sinai, stressing that the Coptic families that have fled the governorate out of fear of terrorist violence will return to the city "when the time is right." At the start of this month, the Coptic Orthodox Church announced that 143 Christian families had fled North Sinai to Ismailiya after a spate of killings of Christians by Islamist militants in the governorate.

Islamic State's branch in the Sinai Peninsula posted a video on Tuesday depicting the beheading of two men the militant Islamist group said it had found guilty of practicing witchcraft and sorcery. The video, posted on a Telegram channel often used by IS, showed the group forming a religious police unit known as the Hasbah in northern Sinai, where it has waged an insurgency for years. The rugged, thinly populated peninsula borders Israel, Gaza and the Suez Canal.

Islamic State-affiliate Province of Sinai released a promotional video on Tuesday showing members of the organization carrying out what it alleges to be Hisba, or religious policing. The group claimed the footage is from locations in North Sinai, which it did not identify. Hisba is defined by religious scholars as the practice of commanding virtue and forbidding vice, professor of Islamic law professor at Al-Azhar University Ahmed Kareema told the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper. He added that Hisba should be conducted by a select few who must be efficient, fair, knowledgeable and capable, describing it as a type of guardianship falling to those who have been entrusted with religious matters.

Egypt said Tuesday a member of a violent group suspected of links to the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood has been killed in a shootout with security forces, the latest in what appears to be a stepped-up crackdown on militants across the country.

Six militants were killed in an un-populated area of Upper Egypt s governorate of Asyut for terrorist related operations that targeted Egypt s national security, according to a statement released by the Interior Ministry.

Egyptian and Palestinian leaders have met amid signs of cooperation between Cairo and the Hamas group that could shake up Gaza s political landscape and sideline the Palestinian president. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Egypt s Abdel Fattah el-Sisi met in Cairo on Sunday. Officials close to Abbas said the Palestinian leader wanted to seek clarifications on what appears to be an emerging power-sharing agreement between Gaza s Hamas rulers and an exiled Abbas rival, former Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan in the meeting.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for attacking a remote Egyptian army outpost in the Sinai Peninsula with a suicide car bomb and heavy machine gun fire. The assault killed at least 23 soldiers in the deadliest attack in the turbulent region in two years. The IS made the claim after nightfall Friday, saying in an online statement that it had carried out the attack as the Egyptian army was preparing an assault on IS positions in Sinai.

At least 10 army personnel were killed, with 16 injured on Friday in a suicide bomb attack in northern Sinai, when two vehicles detonated while passing an army checkpoint in an area between Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid.

A bomb attack on Saturday on a police checkpoint in North Sinais city of Al-Arish killed two policemen and injured nine security personnel, according to state-owned media.

In his first speech since being elected head of Hamas political bureau, the groups leader Ismail Haniya hailed what he described as a "new page" in relations between Hamas and Egypt. Speaking to supporters in Gaza on Wednesday, Haniya reaffirmed the groups policy of not interfering in Egypts internal affairs, saying Hamas will not allow the Strip to be used as a shelter or haven for anyone who intends to harm Egyptian national security.

Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar on Wednesday announced the "total liberation" of second city Benghazi, which was overrun by jihadists three years ago. "After a continuous struggle against terrorism and its agents that lasted more than three years... we announce to you the liberation of Benghazi from terrorism," Haftar, in full military regalia, said in a speech broadcast on television.

In a ceremony held at his ministry s headquarters, Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany announced the discovery of a very important medical manuscript uncovered by the monks of St Catherine s Monastery in South Sinai during restoration works carried out in the monastery s library. The ceremony was attended by Greek Minister of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Media Nikos Pappas, the Archbishop of Saint Catherine s Monastery, Egyptian Cultural Minister Helmy El-Namnam, Egyptian Minister of Communication and Information Technology Yasser El-Kadi, Egyptian Minister of Tourism Yehia Rashid, and South Sinai Governor Major General Khalid Fouda.

Iraqi forces battled the last Islamic State (IS) militant group holdouts in Mosul on Wednesday, a day after the country s premier feted the "major victory" over IS in the northern city. In neighbouring Syria, US-backed forces gained ground after air strikes by the international anti-IS coalition punched holes in the wall of the Old City in Raqa, where they are waging a parallel offensive against IS. "Today, our advance was easier than yesterday," said Lieutenant Colonel Haider Hussein, a commander in Iraq s elite Counter-Terrorism Service.

Iraqi forces slowed their advance on Tuesday through the last streets in Mosul controlled by Islamic State (IS) group where militants and civilians are packed in densely together, a commander said. While Iraqi commanders predicted final victory in Mosul this week, U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces announced they had begun an assault on IS Syrian redoubt in the Old City of Raqqa. The Iraqi military has pushed insurgents into a shrinking rectangle no more than 300 by 500 metres beside the Tigris river in Mosul; but the resistance has been fierce. The Rapid Response Division, an elite Interior Ministry unit, called in air strikes just 50 metres away from their targets, and the fighting got close enough at one point for the militants to toss a hand grenade at the troops.

Egypt s Court of Cassation upheld a final death sentence Tuesday for two defendants found guilty of murder and related crimes during violent incidents in the coastal city of Alexandria following the ouster of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, state news agency MENA reported. The court also upheld jail sentences ranging from 10 to 25 years for 59 defendants in the case and acquitted three others.

Egypt has notices to Interpol calling for the arrest of fugitive members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group who are currently residing in Qatar and Turkey, state-run MENA news agency reported, citing a security source.

With the fight for Mosul in its final stage Monday, Islamic State militants sent female suicide bombers hidden among fleeing civilians, while Iraqi forces and the U.S.-led coalition unleashed punishing airstrikes and artillery fire that set dozens of buildings ablaze. At least one Iraqi soldier was killed and five were wounded in the two separate suicide attacks, the military said. On Sunday, a bomber in women s clothing killed 14 people at a camp for displaced residents in Anbar province, a provincial official said.

A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo on Sunday for talks with Egyptian officials on security issues and Cairo s assistance to the Israeli-besieged Gaza Strip.

A Cairo criminal court on Sunday sentenced 20 defendants to death for their involvement in an attack on Kerdasa police station in August 2013 in which 12 policemen were killed, Al-Ahram Arabic website reported. The court also handed life sentences to 80 defendants, 15-year terms to 35 defendants, and acquitted another 21. The convicted have the right to appeal the verdict before the Court of Cassation.

Gunmen attacked a UN convoy on Wednesday near Zawiyah, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of the Libyan capital, a security source in the town said. The source was unable to say whether there were any casualties among the seven members of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) who came under attack.

A former Moroccan regional lawmaker, who the government says may have been funding civil unrest, has been arrested in the Netherlands where he lives, the Moroccan and Dutch governments said on Thursday. Morocco had recalled its ambassador in the Hague at the weekend over what it described as the Netherlands failure to "take measures against" Said Chaaou, 50, who it suggested was involved in providing "financial and logistical support" in Morocco s Rif region, the centre of months of protests.