Special to WorldTribune.com

A top operative of Islamic State of Iraq and Levant’s (ISIL’s) affiliate in Sinai was killed on Nov. 8 in a firefight in Cairo.

Egyptian security officials reported that Ashraf Ali Hassanein Gharabali was killed after engaging in a gunfight with police who tried to arrest him in Cario’s El-Marg district.

One of Egypt’s most wanted jihadists, Gharabali was a leader of the ISIL affiliate known as Sinai Province, which has claimed responsibility for bringing down a Russian airliner on Oct 31.

He was also said to have been a top deputy of Hisham al-Ashmawy, who is believed behind the plotting of a series of bombings and assassinations in Cairo for Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which is now Sinai Province.

Mokhtar Awad, an analyst at the Washington-based Center for American Progress, said it was doubtful Gharabali was active in Sinai terror operations in Sinai due to his past involvement in a once-powerful Nile Valley cell.

“His death has little implication on the group’s operations in Sinai or those responsible for the alleged bombing of the Metrojet flight,” Mr. Awad said.

  Ashraf Ali Hassanein Gharabali, Egypt kills ISIL operative in Cairo gunfight, Sinai Province, WorldTribune.com