The Ministry of Interior released on Friday a statement that explained details of a police raid that targeted suspects allegedly affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood, who were reportedly involved in the execution and planning of military operations against state institutions in Cairo.
The raid was part of security operations targeting the military wing of the brotherhood that was headed by the previously killed leading figure, Mohamed Kamal. According to the interior ministry’s statement, the aforementioned operation resulted in the arrest of eight brotherhood-affiliated citizens.
“Police forces received information on the movements of a number of the arrested brotherhood figures, who were holding their meetings in a PR agency named ‘Admeer’—located in Nasr City—which they used as camouflage,” the ministry statement read.
Moreover, while the security raid was being executed following the permission of the prosecution, two of the eight arrested tried to escape from the terrace of the agency’s headquarters and opened fire while jumping off of it, the statement added.
The shooting resulted in the death of a civilian—a woman who was a resident of the Heliopolis suburb and a state-employee at the Educational Administration in Heliopolis. However, police forces managed to arrest the suspects after their escape attempt, according to the ministry.
“The targeted leading brotherhood figures were holding a meeting on 16 March when the raid on the headquarters of the PR agency took place. They were considering ways to escalate armed attacks in the upcoming period and the reformation of their military wing,” the statement clarified.
Police forces reportedly found a number of documents that include rules of the brotherhood’s military wing and information on recent movements of police and army forces in North Sinai.
Meanwhile, the little-known militant group “Lewaa El Thawra,” that has been responsible for several small attacks carried out against police and army personnel based in Cairo, released on Thursday video footage that included mourning two militants who were mentioned as martyrs of a recently conducted security operation.
The released footage showed two members of Lewaa El Thawra receiving military training and preparing improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to be used in planned attacks.
Last week, police forces killed four alleged militants during a similar security operation. According to a statement issued on the Ministry of Interior’s Facebook page, they were attacked during a meeting in the Giza governorate, where they planned to carry out terrorist attacks.
The statement noted that the security raid occurred after receiving accurate information that a leading figure of an extremist cell, named Samih Mohamed Farahat, was planning to hold a meeting with his cell’s members in the Al Mansouria district of the Giza governorate to coordinate a massive militant attack.
According to the ministry, the alleged head of the cell and a further three suspects died as a result of exchanging fire with security forces.
Frequent security raids against militants’ hideouts, who are believed to be members of the brotherhood in Cairo and Giza according to the state, have taken place since the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi. Some of the raids that aimed at arresting alleged terrorists ended in shootings after militants opened fire on the approaching security forces.
