CAIRO (AA) – Egyptian security forces have arrested 32 suspects in the Giza own of Kerdasa as part of a joint army/police operation aimed at capturing people who authorities describe as "militants and terrorists," a security source told Anadolu Agency on Thursday.
According to the source, security forces have established control over all the town's entry and exit points, as well as the local police station, which was attacked last month a few hours after the violent dispersal of two support camps set up by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.
Security forces are currently besieging the homes of several wanted men in Kerdasa and hunting down others in agricultural areas adjacent to the village, the source said.
At least one suspect had turned himself into security forces, the source added.
Security forces are also besieging a house in which senior Muslim Brotherhood leader Essam al-Erian and Gamaa Islamiya leader Assem Abdel-Maguid are believed to be hiding, according to the source.
Earlier Thursday, Egyptian and police forces stormed Kerdasa, the largest in the Giza province.
The raid aims to arrest 140 wanted individuals and confiscate caches of heavy weapons believed to be in the village, a security source said.
Some local residents exchanged heavy fire with troops who besieged the area from all sides before storming the village from the east.
The largest town in the Giza province, Kerdasa is home to an estimated 450,000 inhabitants.
Eyewitnesses said security forces on Thursday had raided the homes of several local Muslim Brotherhood leaders.
They also dispersed groups of residents by firing live rounds into the air as army and police helicopters flew overhead.
Police General Nabil Farag, Giza's deputy security chief, died of injuries sustained during the melee after having been taken to hospital.
As many as 200 Egyptian Special Forces teams and 40 Central Security Forces (riot police) teams were taking part in the operation, along with army troops.
The source said security forces besieged agricultural areas adjacent to the village, while the army beefed up its presence along the desert hinterland of the village before the operation to prevent suspects from fleeing.
Kerdasa was the site of a horrible attack on its local police station on August 14 following the violent eviction of two pro-Morsi protest camps in Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda.
After militants stormed the police station, lynching 11 security personnel, the Kerdasa police station was abandoned and police forces have not been allowed into the area since.
Local media blamed last month's attack on Morsi supporters.
Locals, however, dismiss these reports, saying that leading Muslim Brotherhood members and Morsi supporters had been in Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya Square and Giza's Nahda Square – the sites of the two pro-democracy sit-ins – at the time.
Two dozen police stations were attacked across Egypt after the bloody dispersal of the two sit-ins on August 14, which left hundreds of protesters dead and thousands injured and sparked mass protests nationwide.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks on the police stations.
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 army.
By Ahmed Gamal
englishnews@aa.com.tr
