CAIRO, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian police have bust a terrorist cell in North Sinai Province, killing five of its members, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday.

The terrorists opened fire at the raiding forces in a remote area in Arish, capital city of North Sinai, before "the forces dealt with them and killed five terrorists," according to a ministry statement.

"Three machine guns, a shotgun, an explosive device and an explosive belt were found in the terrorists' possession," the statement said.

Egypt has been facing terrorist activities that killed hundreds of policemen, soldiers and civilians following the popular ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in early July 2013 and the later security crackdown on his supporters.

Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group is currently outlawed in Egypt as a terrorist organization.

Most of the terror attacks in Egypt in the past few years were claimed by a Sinai-based offshoot of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian army and police killed hundreds of terrorists and arrested thousands of suspects during the country's ongoing anti-terror war declared by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.