CAIRO, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's police killed six terrorists in a dawn raid on a hideout in Upper Egypt on Saturday, a statement by the Interior Ministry said.

The terrorists were killed in a shootout as the forces attempted to raid their hideout, which was located in a gorge in one of the mountainous areas along the western Assiut-Sohag desert highway, the statement said.

They were found in possession of ammunition, weapons, and an improvised explosive device.

The raid came following combing operations by the ministry's national security bureau and others in remote areas of Upper Egypt.

Egypt has been facing terrorist activities that killed hundreds of policemen, soldiers and civilians following the popular-backed military 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 group affiliated with the Islamic State regional 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.