Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi
Abdel Fattah Al-SisiReuters

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi on Saturday named a new armed forces chief of staff, AFP reported.

He appointed former defense ministry secretary general Mohammed Farid Hegazy to the post, the presidency announced, without providing a reason for the change.

His predecessor Mahmoud Hegazy, who had held the post since March 2014 when he replaced Al-Sisi himself, was named a presidential adviser.

The Egyptian interior ministry on Saturday also announced changes in key security positions, both nationally and in Giza province, according to AFP.

Giza was the scene of last week's terrorist attack that claimed the lives of at least 16 police officers.

The attack occurred as security forces raided a hideout which reportedly belonged to suspected members of Hasm, a group that emerged last year and has claimed several attacks on security forces, including the fatal shooting of a policeman and injuries to three others in the province.

Linked to Sisi through the marriage of their respective children, Mahmoud Hegazy recently returned from Washington where military chiefs had gathered to discuss fighting "terrorism", noted AFP.

Egypt's armed forces have been facing faced an Islamist insurgency, mostly in the Sinai Peninsula.

Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis, the group staging the insurgency in the Sinai, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014 and is now known as Sinai Province.

It is blamed for the killing of hundreds of soldiers and policemen and has started to target other areas, including Egypt’s Christian Copts.