Muslim Brotherhood member shot dead in Egypt

CAIRO

Egyptian security forces have shot dead a Muslim Brotherhood member in southern Egypt, the Interior Ministry said on Thursday.

Mujahed Hassan Zaki, a middle-ranking Brotherhood member, was killed in an exchange of fire with security forces during a raid on his hideout in the southern Beni Sueif province, the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said that the slain Brotherhood member had been wanted by the authorities for allegedly committing violence.

But a Brotherhood source denied the ministry’s claim, saying that Zaki had been “liquidated” by security forces.

The source claimed that Zaki had been arrested without resistance three days ago in an apartment in the eastern Cairo suburb of Ain Shams.

“However, his family received a call that Zaki had been admitted to hospital after dying from gunshot wounds,” the source said.

This is not the first time Brotherhood members were killed during security raids on their homes.

In June, Egyptian security forces shot dead five Brotherhood members during a raid on their home in western Cairo.

Since mid-2013, when Mohamed Morsi – Egypt’s first freely elected president and a Brotherhood leader – was ousted in a military coup, the group has been the target of a harsh crackdown by the Egyptian authorities in which hundreds of members have been killed and tens of thousands thrown behind bars.

In the wake of Morsi’s ouster, the Muslim Brotherhood was branded a “terrorist organization” by the Egyptian government.

The Brotherhood, for its part, has consistently denied the allegations, saying it is devoted to purely peaceful modes of political activism.