Egypt's Interior Minister Magdi Abdel Ghaffar said confronting "terrorist groups" has shifted from being a security confrontation to an "existential war," in a Wednesday speech.
Abdel Ghaffar said the dangers posed by Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria have multiplied after the Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis and militant groups inside Libya pledged allegiance to the group, state-run MENA reported.
Ansar, Egypt's most notorious militant group, has claimed more responsibility for militant attacks across the country than any other group. It changed its name to Sinai Province after pledging allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State fighters, last year.
Most of the group's attacks are carried out in the north of the Sinai peninsula.
Militants believed to belong to a Libyan division of Islamic State fighters have executed 21 men last month, 20 of whom were Egyptians.
During his speech, at a meeting of Arab interior ministers in Algeria, Abdel Ghaffar said Arab countries must use all their apparatuses to counter the imminent danger of "terrorist" organisations, "which not only aim to come to power, but also to divide Arabic countries and destroy their military and security capabilities..."
Egypt has proposed creating a joint Arab force to preserve Arab national security.
The proposal is expected to top the agenda of the Arab Summit, due later this month, the Deputy Secretary General of the Arab League Ahmed Ben Helli said last week.
