Sunday, September 22, 2013

Egypt Steps up Arrests on Morsi Allies

Egyptian police arrested at least 48 suspected militants during a dawn raid on this Islamist stronghold outside Cairo as security forces widened their dragnet for suspected militant supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi. 
Police officers, wrapped in bulletproof vests and toting machine guns, swept through the village of Kerdasa near Egypt's capital in armored cars shortly after dawn to search for more than 140 suspects who police believe took part in the brutal killing of 11 fellow officers at a police station here last month.
Police said that their top suspects were three men—Assem Abdel Maged, Aboud al-Zomor and his cousin Tarek al-Zomo—who lead the Islamist movement Al Gamaa Al Islamiya, which has renounced violence as a political tool. The group denied that the three men—who weren't captured—were guilty of any crimes. 
[...] 
Police and official Egyptian media described the early-morning attack as part of a broader effort to cleanse Egypt of Morsi supporters who employed violence after the Islamist president's overthrow in a popularly-backed military coup on July 3.
Overstretched by a mounting uprising in the country's restive Sinai Peninsula, Egyptian police have struggled to contain the worsening violence. At least 1,000 people have died in recurring gunfights between Mr. Morsi's supporters and police since his ouster, human-rights groups say. 
"It took us too long to conduct this operation in Kerdasa because it is a densely populated area and one of our main concerns was the safety of innocent residents," said Gen. Hani Abdullatif, the ministry of interior's spokesman, in explaining why police waited more than a month to pursue the alleged killers. "This was a very complicated operation that required a high level of security planning."
Read the full story HERE.

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