JNN 01 Nov 2012 Cairo : Egyptian police have discovered dozens of explosive devices and arrested several people on the charge of planning terrorist attacks in the country.

Security forces found 83 bombs in a car on a highway outside the capital, Cairo, and later arrested two men allegedly linked to the explosives, the Egyptian Interior Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

The police also raided an apartment in Cairo where they seized half a kilogram of ball bearings, which can be used in bombs to cause greater damage and injury, along with a manual on making bombs.

In a separate incident, security forces detained two men with electrical circuit boards that could be used in bombs.

A police raid last week also saw an al-Qaeda-linked militant die in an explosion that occurred during the operation, said interior ministry statement.

In a related raid, police arrested three suspects, including a Tunisian national, and seized an explosive vest together with explosives and cell phone detonators, the statement added.

Egypt has been trying to secure its borders following the 2011 revolution, which ended the decades-long rule of Western-backed dictator Hosni Mubarak.

The arrests are the latest in a recent wave of clampdown on militants who have been targeting Egyptian security personnel and civilians in operations, especially in the restive Sinai Peninsula.

In September, an Egyptian court sentenced 14 militants to death and another six to life in prison over involvement in the 2011 attacks on police and army forces in the Sinai region.

The outbreak of militant attacks in the Sinai region has prompted the Egyptian government to deploy hundreds of troops in the restive region to prevent future violence.