CAIRO - An Egyptian court opened the trial on Thursday of 213 suspected militants, including members of the army and police, on charges of joining Egypt's most active militant group and attempting to assassinate the interior minister, judicial sources said.Egypt has been grappling with rising Islamist militancy since then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted freely elected President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.Hundreds of soldiers and policemen have been killed in deadly attacks claimed by the Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis group, which changed its name to Sinai Province after pledging allegiance to Islamic State, the hardline Sunni militant group that has seized swathes of Iraq and Syria.
