CAIRO (AA) - Egypt’s Prosecutor-General Hesham Barakat has ordered an investigation into incidents of a security operation in the Giza town of Kerdasa, judicial sources told Anadolu Agency.
The prosecutor also ordered all detainees in the security operation to be quizzed.
On Thursday, Egyptian army and security forces stormed Kerdasa with the stated aim of arresting the wanted "militants and terrorists."
In a statement late Thursday, the Interior Ministry said security forces were able to arrest 68 people wanted by the prosecution.
It also announced the seizure of 11 hand grenades, five sound bombs, an unspecified number of machine guns and a cache of bullets.
As many as 200 Special Forces members and 40 men of Central Security Forces (riot police) teams, in addition to army troops, reportedly took part in the operation.
Security forces took control of the local police station, which had been attacked last month after Egyptian authorities violently dispersed two protest camps set up by supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi in Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya Square and Giza's Nahda Square.
Eyewitnesses said security forces raided the homes of several local Muslim Brotherhood leaders in Kerdasa. Two policemen, including Giza's deputy security chief Nabil Farag, were killed in the operation.
Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said the general's killing had left Egyptian security forces "more determined to eliminate terrorists" from the flashpoint town. "Security forces", he said in a statement, "are resolved to hunt down all criminals and terrorists in Kerdasa and restore security and stability to the Egyptian street."
Thursday’s raid ostensibly aimed to arrest 140 wanted individuals in connection to last month's attack on the local police station and confiscate stockpiles of heavy weapons believed to be in the town.
Last month, militants attacked the Kerdasa police station, lynching 11 security personnel in the process.
While local media had blamed the police station attack on Morsi supporters, Kerdasa residents dismiss these claims, saying that leading Muslim Brotherhood members and Morsi supporters had been in Rabaa and Nahda squares at the time.
Kerdasa is one of several areas in Egypt where pro-Morsi demonstrations have continued unabated since the Islamist leader's July 3 ouster by the powerful army.
by Walid Fouda
englishnews@aa.com.tr
