The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group accused Egyptian security forces on Wednesday of “executing nine unarmed members”, in a residential flat in 6th of October City, west of Cairo.
Mohamed Montaser, the official spokesperson of the group, said that the killed members “were helping the families of detainees”, refuting the official narrative that they were armed.
He added that the incident is an attempt to “cover up the failure of Al-Sisi in Sinai”.
In a coinciding development earlier on Wednesday, the restive North Sinai witnessed violent clashes between the armed forces and the police and “State of Sinai” militants in Sheikh Zuweid.
The Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) said that it killed 100 militants, and lost 17 personnel in the violent clashes. However, local and international news outlets reported more than 60 causalities, citing official health sources.
However, the spokesperson of the Health Ministry refused to tell Daily News Egypt of the latest death toll, saying that “only the army spokesperson is allowed to report army news”.
On its part, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday in a statement that security forces raided a flat during a meeting of a group of “fleeing members of the Brotherhood”, and clashes occurred.
Hours earlier, before the statement was released, state media reported that “nine terrorists were eliminated” citing a security source.
The ministry said that the deceased were planning “the movement of the terrorist group to commit acts of terror and rioting during the period coinciding with the 30 June revolution celebrations”.
Graphic photos of the deceased’s bodies were published on the ministry’s official social media page.
The statement claimed that the security forces initiated the attack after receiving permission from the State Security Prosecution.
A representative of the Interior Minister told Daily News Egypt that the dead members started attacking the forces.
However, a Brotherhood spokesperson told Daily News Egypt that the nine members were arrested Wednesday noon, and were “executed later while they were unarmed in a move that shows the regime’s tendency for blind revenge”.
One of the killed members is Abdel Fattah Attia, which the ministry statement described as a” wanted element”. It added weapons were in their possession, and papers “allegedly detailing attacks on police and army personnel”, as well as “other evidence that might help in arresting perpetrators in the assassination of the prosecutor general”.
On Monday, Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat died from injuries he sustained in a bombing that targeted his car. Following the attack, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi called for swift retribution against “terrorists”.
The Brotherhood condemned the killing of its members, saying in a statement: “Our martyrs were killed after they have been detained in a house, then shot in cold blood without any trial or investigations.”
Sources told Daily News Egypt that the relatives of the deceased are currently awaiting the bodies of their relatives in front of the Zeinhom morgue.
