CAIRO, June 24 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian parliament approved on Sunday a three-month extension of the state of emergency due to security challenges facing the Arab country, official MENA news agency reported.
The parliament approved a presidential decree to extend the emergency state, starting from July 14, according to MENA.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi first imposed a three-month nationwide state of emergency in April last year, following a twin bombings at two churches in northern provinces of Gharbeya and Alexandria that killed at least 47 and wounded over 120.
Under the Egyptian constitution, presidential decisions to renew state of emergency must be approved by the country's parliament.
Terrorism prevailed in Egypt since the military ousted former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in early July 2013 in response to mass protests against his 12-month reign and his currently outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.
Terror attacks killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers in restive North Sinai province northeastern Cairo before they gradually extended to other provinces, where dozens of civilians, mainly Christians were killed.
Most of the attacks were claimed by Sinai State group, which is based in Egypt's North Sinai province.
