The Ministry of Interior identified a man killed in a police raid as a member of militant group Hasm, according to a statement issued on Monday.
The Saturday raid had targeted a flat in 6th of October City on the outskirts of Cairo and resulted in the killing of a police conscript and an alleged militant. The militant was identified by the ministry as Mohamed Abdul Khaleq Farag Ali, born in 1990.
The ministry said he was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and a leading figure of its affiliated groups, including Hasm and the Kerdasa Armed Operations Unit—accusations for which the suspect had been wanted by the Homeland Security apparatus.
The police said it raided the militant’s apartment upon authorisation from the prosecution authorities, based on information by Homeland Security officers that the targeted apartment was used to plan local attacks against judicial officials and military and police forces.
The ministry said that conscript Ahmed Abdul Halim Mostafa from the Central Security Forces (CSF) was killed in the raid, as gunfire erupted when the police neared the apartment.
The Hasm movement appeared a few months back in 2016. In August, the group said it was behind the failed assassination attempt of former grand mufti Ali Gomaa.
In October, the group claimed responsibility for an attempt to assassinate assistant general prosecutor Zakareya Abdel Aziz in New Cairo. The attack, executed by a car bomb, left one civilian injured, while Abdel Aziz survived the attempt.
Moreover, the group claimed responsibility in December for a bombing in Giza which claimed the lives of six police personnel and injured another three.
Meanwhile, a Twitter account attributed to the group published a statement on Sunday, mourning the killing of one of its members after long being chased by security forces. It is unclear if the group was referring to the same person mentioned in the ministry’s statement, as Hasm identified him as 24-year-old Mohamed Ashour Dashisha.
Hasm’s statement said that as security forces located and targeted the house of Dashisha. The man picked up his weapon and fought them.
