At least 30 Egyptian police officers killed in shootout in Giza
The militants tried to flee after the exchange of fire and continued to fire at a second security unit called from atop buildings. (File Photo: Reuters)
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Friday, 20 October 2017
Security sources say at least 30 police officers killed in shoot-out with suspected militants in Giza, southwest Cairo.
According to news agencies, quoting security sources, the police officers were killed in a shoot-out on Friday during a raid on a suspected militant hideout in Egypt’s Western desert.
The sources said authorities were following a lead to an apartment thought to house eight suspected members of Hasm, a group which has claimed several attacks around the capital targeting judges and policemen since last year.
The exchange of gunfire took place on Friday in the al-Wahat al-Bahriya district in the Giza governorate, about 135 kilometers, from the Egyptian capital.
The suspected militants tried to flee after the exchange of fire there, the sources said, and continued to fire at a second security unit called in for backup from atop neighboring buildings.
A convoy of four SUVs and one interior ministry vehicle was ambushed from higher ground by militants firing rocket-propelled grenades and detonating explosive devices, a senior source in the Giza Security Office said.
Two security sources said eight security personnel were injured in the clashes, while another source said that four of the injured were police officers and four others were suspected militants.
The number of dead was expected to rise, the sources said.
Militant wing
Egypt accuses Hasm of being a militant wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group it outlawed in 2013. The Muslim Brotherhood denies this.
The militant group staging the insurgency pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2014. It is blamed for the killing of hundreds of soldiers and policemen and has started to target other areas, including Egypt’s Christian Copts.
Egypt has been under a state of emergency since bombings and suicide attacks targeting minority Coptic Christians killed scores earlier this year.
No militant group immediately claimed involvement in Friday’s shootout.
(With Reuters and The Associated Press)
Last Update: Saturday, 21 October 2017 KSA 00:51 - GMT 21:51
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/Ne...lled-in-clashes-with-militants-near-Giza.html
إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون
Eternal glory to the martyrs and heroes. Terrorism will be defeated eventually in all parts of the Arab world. Cooperation is necessary but Egypt is on the right track! However we all must do more. Cordial disagreements should be preferred rather than senseless hatred and violence.
My deepest condolences brothers!
@EgyptianAmerican @Gomig-21 @Frogman @MICA @Amir_Pharaoh @Ahmad Torky @Amun @Hell NO @Mahmoud_EGY etc.
