Dois policiais foram mortos nesta quarta-feira em atos de violência no Egito. Um dos policiais foi morto com a explosão de uma bomba colocada embaixo de seu carro em um subúrbio a oeste do Cairo nesta quarta-feira, o mais recente de uma série de ataques a policiais e militares por grupos militantes muçulmanos que mantém uma campanha de violência desde a deposição do presidente islâmico Mohammed Morsi. O brigadeiro-general Ahmed Zaki foi o segundo policial dessa patente morto este mês em um ataque a bomba, um sinal de que os atos de violência mudaram de ataques suicidas e carros-bomba contra instalações policiais para ataques menores contra oficiais ou pequenos postos policiais.
Também nesta quarta-feira o tenente da polícia Ahmed Saad foi morto em uma troca de tiros que ocorreu quando as forças de seguranças atacaram um esconderijo de militantes perto da cidade de Alexandria.
##RECOMENDA##
Não houve reivindicação imediata de responsabilidade pelo ataque a bomba, mas o Ministério do Interior culpou a Irmandade Muçulmana.
Grupos militantes inspirados na Al-Qaeda têm assumido a responsabilidade pela maioria dos ataques recentes no país. Os grupos afirmam que os bombardeios e disparos estão ocorrendo para vingar a repressão feroz aos partidários islâmicos de Morsi. Mais de 1.300 pessoas foram mortas e outras milhares foram presas.
O governo disse que suspeitos de integrar grupos rebeldes mataram mais de 450 policiais e soldados desde julho e acusa a Irmandade Muçulmana de orquestrar a violência, dizendo que ela está por trás dos grupos militantes. A Irmandade nega a acusação, dizendo que o governo a declarou uma organização terrorista para justificar a sua destruição como força política. Fonte: Associated Press.
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Bomb, shooting in Egypt kills 2 police officers
AP Photo CAI101, CAI113, CAI112, CAI121, CAI101
Eds: Edits to tighten. AP Video. With AP Photos.
By SARAH EL DEEB
Associated Press
CAIRO (AP) _ A senior Egyptian police officer was killed by a bomb placed
under his car in a western Cairo suburb Wednesday, the latest in a series of
targeted attacks on police and the military as Islamic militant groups keep up
a campaign of violence since last summer's ouster of Islamist President
Mohammed Morsi.
Brig. Gen. Ahmed Zaki was the second police officer of that rank killed this
month in a bombing, a sign of how the violence has shifted from high-profile
suicide and car bombings against police installations toward more low-level
attacks on individual officers or small police posts.
Also Wednesday, a police lieutenant was killed in a gun battle that erupted as
security forces raided a militant hideout near the Mediterranean coastal city
of Alexandria.
Al-Qaida-inspired militant groups have claimed responsibility for most of the
attacks. The groups have said their bombings and shootings are to avenge the
fierce crackdown on Morsi's Islamist supporters in which more than 1,300
people have been killed and thousands arrested. The government says suspected
militants have killed more than 450 policemen and soldiers since July.
The government accuses Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood of orchestrating the
violence, saying it is ultimately behind the militant groups. It declared the
group a terrorist organization late last year. The Brotherhood denies the
claim, saying the terror brand aims to justify wiping it out as a political
force.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Wednesday's killing, but
the Interior Ministry blamed the Brotherhood.
``The Egyptian police continue its determined and decisive confrontation in
its battle against terrorism,'' ministry spokesman Hani Abdel-Latif said in a
televised statement. The police ``will continue their efforts to face up to
these terrorist operations that are plotted by the terrorist Muslim
Brotherhood group.''
Zaki was heading to work early Wednesday from his home in the Cairo suburb of
6th of October when the bomb detonated under the police car assigned to
transport him, critically wounding him. He later died in hospital, Abdel-Latif
said. Two conscripts were wounded.
Zaki is one of the most senior officers to be killed in the campaign of
violence. He was in the leadership of the Central Security Forces, the riot
police branch that takes the lead role in dealing with protests and general
security.
A senior security official in Cairo said Zaki had sat through planning
meetings for the Aug. 14 operation that broke up two pro-Morsi sit-ins in the
capital, in which security forces killed more than 600 protesters. The
official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk
to journalists.
Speaking to The Associated Press, Abdel-Latif said he was not aware of what
Zaki's tasks included, but dismissed the possibility he was targeted for any
specific role he played.
``They are targeting police force wherever they are,'' he said. ``They make a
homemade bomb and toss it at police.''
He pointed out that traffic police have also been hit and that recently even a
civilian wearing a police-style beret had a bomb lobbed at his vehicle.
Another brigadier general was killed on April 2 when three bombs were placed
by a riot police post outside Cairo University, where protests by largely
Morsi supporters have been regular and often bloody since the start of
academic year in September.
A new group that first appeared in January, Ajnad Misr, or ``Egypt's
Soldiers,'' claimed responsibility for that bombing. In a statement, it said
it was waging a campaign of retribution and that the slain police general had
been involved in killings of protesters. It said the attack also came in
response to increased detentions of female protesters.
On Wednesday, new clashes between security forces and students broke out near
or outside universities following protests in Cairo and in the cities of
Fayoum and Assiut, as well as others. One student was injured in Fayoum by
birdshot, while police also fired tear gas in the clashes.
In Alexandria, Lt. Ahmed Saad was shot and killed during a raid on a militant
hideout. Militants opened fire on the police as they moved on the hideout in a
farm area in Borg al-Arab, a western district on the Alexandria's outskirts,
the city's police chief Police Maj. Gen. Amin Ezzedin told the state news
agency MENA. He said one suspect was also killed and another arested.
Abdel-Latif said two suspects were arrested and are believed to be members of
Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, one of Egypt's main militant groups. Abdel-Latif said
the cell was planning attacks on security forces.
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