Nine terrorists were killed in a shootout with Egyptian police in the Asyut region, announced the country’s interior ministry on Monday. The shootout broke out when police raided a cave hideout along the Nile River at dawn on Monday, it added. The raid in central Egypt targeted men who were planning attacks on vital installations, it said in a statement. It said assault rifles, improvised explosive devices, ammunition and supplies were seized in the operation, in rugged terrain off the road between the city of Asyut, some 320 kilometers (200 miles) south of Cairo, and Sohag, another 70 kilometers further south. Egypt has been battling an insurgency based in the Sinai Peninsula that intensified in 2013 after the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood. It launched a nationwide operation against the militants in February. The Ministry said it took legal measures necessary for the raid, and coordinated it with the Supreme State Security Prosecution, a court that handles terrorism cases.