Egypt police raid area near Cairo, one killed

Egypt police raid area near Cairo, one killed
Thu Sep 19, 2013 13:23:18

A senior police officer was killed when Egyptian security forces stormed a village outside Cairo Thursday in the latest crackdown on gunmen, while unexploded bombs on the tracks briefly halted Cairo's metro.

Military and police vehicles surrounded Kerdassah in the shadow of landmark pyramids after dawn, as police special forces were deployed to confront gunmen in the village, the interior ministry said.

Giza security chief Nabil Farrag was killed in clashes while 32 people were arrested in the operation.

Authorities slapped a daytime curfew on the village as they went door to door in search of 140 wanted men, including those behind a "massacre" in Kerdassah in which 11 policemen were killed on August 14.

Thursday's raid comes as part of a massive crackdown on supporters of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi who was overthrown by the military on July 3.

Around 1,000 Islamists have been killed in the campaign in two months, as well as dozens of soldiers and policemen.

Morsi is himself being held by the military at an unknown location and hundreds of members of his Muslim Brotherhood are being detained on various charges.

Authorities installed by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi have vowed to put an end to the recent wave of violence which they attribute to supporters of Morsi.

"Security forces are pursuing their campaign in Kerdassah and will not stop until it clears the village," interior ministry spokesman Hani Abdel Latif told reporters.

Television footage showed thick teargas hanging over the rural patch near the Giza pyramids, as army and police vehicles moved around deserted parts of Kerdassah, a stronghold of hardline supporters of Morsi.

On August 14, just hours after authorities launched a crackdown on two protest camps in Cairo of Morsi supporters, 11 policemen were found dead at the Kerdassah police station.

Several other police stations near the village were also torched.

Meanwhile in Cairo, several metro lines serving hundreds of thousads of commuters were briefly grounded after two unexploded bombs were found on the tracks in a south Cairo station.

Bomb experts were dispatched to the scene and combed the tracks for more devices, one official said. Services resumed soon afterwards.

NJF/NJF

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