Egypt’s state of emergency is set to reach the three-year mark by April after the government announced it would extend it by another three months from Monday next week.
The North African country has been under a state of emergency since April 2017 bombings of two Coptic churches by an Islamic State group affiliate that killed more than 40 people.
The extension comes nine years after the January 2011 uprising that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak, who had also ruled for decades under a state of emergency.
Under a state of emergency, police powers such as arresting and holding citizens are extended and constitutional rights such as freedom of speech and assembly are curtailed.
Egypt has for years been battling an Islamist insurgency, which surged following the 2013 military ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi.
The attacks have been largely concentrated in the restive northern Sinai Peninsula but occasionally struck elsewhere in the country.