BLOODBATH IN CAIRO: Blood and tyranny...

I think it just shows how hateful the Muslim brotherhood is. The people don't want them

Last week they fired a Hellfire missile into a govt building. 399 left to act ugly with

Growing chaos: World powers condemn Egypt bloodshed, as death toll rises to 525
Posted on August 15, 2013



August 15, 2013 – CAIRO – Egypt’s military rulers on Thursday faced international condemnation over the bloody crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood protesters, with France warning of the threat of “civil war” and Turkey demanding UN action. At least 525 people were killed in Wednesday’s assaults on two Cairo protest camps of supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in the worst violence the country has seen in decades. The United States led global condemnations overnight against the “deplorable” violence, while Paris, London and Berlin have summoned Egypt’s ambassadors to voice their strong concern. Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for an urgent UN Security Council meeting over Egypt’s “massacre” of Morsi supporters. China was characteristically muted, calling for “maximum restraint” from all parties, while fellow security council permanent member Russia only urged tourists to avoid trips to Egypt.  Only two Gulf States that have cracked down on Islamist groups within their own borders initially voiced support for the Cairo military leaders. French President Francois Hollande said “everything must be done to avoid a civil war” in Egypt, while his government conveyed France’s “great concern over the tragic events” to Egypt’s envoy.  “France is committed to finding a political solution and calls for elections to be held as soon as possible, in line with the commitments made by Egypt’s transitional authorities,” said a statement. Germany also summoned the Egyptian ambassador, a day after its foreign minister Guido Westerwelle urged all sides to renounce violence and return immediately to negotiations. “On the orders of foreign minister Westerwelle, the ambassador was told the position of the German government in no uncertain terms,” said a foreign ministry spokeswoman. Turkey’s Erdogan, a Morsi supporter, told reporters in Ankara that “the security council of the United Nations should convene quickly to discuss the situation in Egypt. This is a very serious massacre …against the Egyptian people who were only protesting peacefully,” he added, criticizing “the silence” of the global community in the face of the bloodshed. The United States did not initially criticise the overthrow of Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected and Islamist leader, and has avoided using the term “coup,” which under US law would have halted some USD 1.3 billion in annual military aid to Cairo. –Times of India

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2393637/Egyptian-woman-attempts-stop-military-bulldozer-running-wounded-protester-clashes.html

Astonishing moment Egyptian woman attempts to stop military bulldozer from running over wounded protester during clashes

• [b style="font-weight: bold;"]Image taken in Cairo by Mohammed Abdel Moneim of Agence France-Presse/Getty Image[/b][b style="font-size: 1.4em; font-weight: bold;"]s[/b]
  
• [b style="font-size: 1.4em; font-weight: bold;"]Next photo showed bulldozer looming over young man lying injured and bleeding on ground[/b]
  
• [b style=" font-size: 1.4em; font-weight: bold;"]Egypt declares state of emergency after clashes broke out following bid to clear protest camps
  [/b]
  

By Mark Duell, Michael Seamark and Becky Evans
PUBLISHED: 13:16 EST, 14 August 2013 | UPDATED: 03:25 EST, 15 August 2013

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651 shares

83

View
comments


She stands alone amid the horror and violence of the situation, waving sticks in the air and trying to challenging a huge bulldozer head-on.
This astonishing photograph sees an Egyptian woman trying to stop the military bulldozer from going forward during clashes that broke out in the country.
It was taken by Mohammed Abdel Moneim of Agence France-Presse/Getty Images and shows the vehicle moving through the protest camp’s barricades.
[b style="font-weight: bold;"]Scroll down for video[/b]

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2393637/Egyptian-woman-attempts-stop-military-bulldozer-running-wounded-protester-clashes.html#ixzz2c4fFRoaB

PICTURES @ LINK ABOVE

Egypt is a total mess and will be for a long long time. Those pictures (about 50-ish of 'em) are truly horrid. Note to Egyptian people; you voted for the muslim brotherhood and sharia. YOU! Now learn from your mistake. Don't follow in the footsteps of the United States who knowingly voted in a communist socialist muslim for a second term. Learn from our mistakes and yours and cast your next votes wisely and with great thought.

Egypt and the return of the Brotherhood..... 

Egyptian Islamists Target Christian Churches in Wave of Apparently Coordinated Attacks

• The list of churches will astonish you...
  

Egypt: 632 Dead, Thousands Injured...

• The Nile runs red...
  
• Egypt: Obama remarks 'strengthen' armed groups
  
• Egypt Is Descending Into Civil War, But Don't Expect Obama To Cancel His Golf Vacation
  
• Optics: Egypt burns, while Obama parties on Martha's Vineyard
  

Egypt Military Prepares To Crush Islamist March Of Millions "Day Of Rage"


Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/16/2013 08:20 -0400

If there is one day when the pent up tensions on both sides resulting from the Egyptian coup over a month ago may boil over and lead to an all out civil war (still unclear how John Kerry would "define" that one) today may be that day, asCairo is braced for what may be the most violent confrontations yet with supporters of the deposed president Mursi calling for “day of rage” protests after Friday prayers, and the Egyptian polic (now using live ammo) and army set to crush any such "illegal" protests. Since millions are set to hit the streets, there is no way this will have a peaceful outcome.

Quote :

As Egypt faces the gruesome aftermath of clashes that left hundreds dead, demonstrators plan to defy an emergency order and take to the streets to mark "Friday of anger."
 
The Muslim Brotherhood promised huge protests, and Egypt's military government showed no sign of easing its crackdown, setting the stage for what could become another catastrophic encounter of security forces and protesters.
 
"The struggle to overthrow this illegitimate regime is an obligation," the Muslim Brotherhood said on its website Friday, while urging people to protest peacefully.
 
Military vehicles were deployed Friday across Cairo and Giza, taking up positions in squares and securing important institutions, the state-run EGYNews reported. The agency said armored vehicles and barbed wire blocked all entrances to Tahrir Square, and 22 armored vehicles were in Mustafa Mahmoud Square.
 
The state-run agency said the military increased checkpoints at all entrances to Cairo to prevent arms smuggling to protesters.
 
Also Friday, at least 20 police officers were wounded when assailants opened fire on two security cars north of Cairo, according to EGYNews.
 
The leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom will have phone conversations to discuss Egypt, the office of French President Francois Hollande said. Hollande planned to talk to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron.
 
Egyptian authorities rejected criticism from President Barack Obama and other world leaders for Wednesday's ferocious clashes, which left at least 580 people dead when security forces broke up huge sit-ins in Cairo, according to the Health Ministry.
 
More than 4,000 were injured. Casualties included civilians, police officers and bystanders.

Quote :

“The struggle to overthrow this illegitimate regime is an obligation, an Islamic, national, moral, and human obligation which we will not steer away from until justice and freedom prevail, and until repression is conquered,” said a statement from the Anti-Coup Alliance, a coalition of Islamist groups dominated by Mr Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood. The statement said the protesters would not resort to “violence or vandalism” but current intense tensions make a conflagration very likely. State media reported on Friday that the army was being deployed to guard “vital installations”. In central Cairo, there were military vehicles manned by soldiers and checkpoints with barbed wire, Reuters reported.

At least 578 people were killed in clashes between security forces and Muslim Brotherhood supporters in Cairo and elsewhere, according to official figures. The Muslim Brotherhood claim many hundred more were killed. It is impossible to independently verify the number of dead. The rising toll meant that Wednesday’s raid by authorities on the protest camps had resulted in the deadliest day seen in Egypt since the 2011 uprising that led to the overthrow of former president Hosni Mubarak.

BBC summarizes:

• Supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood call for fresh protests after Friday prayers
  
• It comes two days after more than 638 people lost their lives when security forces cleared Muslim Brotherhood protest camps
  
• A state of emergency is in force and the police are authorised to use live ammunition in self-defence
  
• Wednesday's bloodshed has drawn international condemnation
  

If and when the crackdown begins, we will be sure to webcast it live.

Has anyone posted the article yet that morsi's son states he has enough hard evidence for the american people to put obama in jail. Also says if things go bad for daddy he's forking it over to the media. This is now choreographed by parts of our gov't.  Cause enough bloodshed to allow us to come in and 'help'. Benghazi survivors stated the militia that showed said they were sent by morsi and they also just happened to know we had 400 hellfire missiles on grounds that day.

quietobserver wrote:

Has anyone posted the article yet that morsi's son states he has enough hard evidence for the american people to put obama in jail. Also says if things go bad for daddy he's forking it over to the media. This is now choreographed by parts of our gov't.  Cause enough bloodshed to allow us to come in and 'help'. Benghazi survivors stated the militia that showed said they were sent by morsi and they also just happened to know we had 400 hellfire missiles on grounds that day.

I don't recall that article but if you have it please put it up. I would like to see it. Thanks.

I had it over in the news section if this is what your talking about.....


MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD CLAIM: WE'VE GOT 'GOODS ON OBAMA'

Son of jailed leader says evidence could put U.S. president in prison
Published: 13 hours ago


NEW YORK – The son of a jailed Muslim Brotherhood leader in Egypt is claiming his father has evidence that will land President Obama in prison.

The claim came as the Obama administration, with the assistance of Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and the open involvement of the No. 2 man at the U.S. State Department, made a concerted effort to see Muslim Brotherhood leaders in Egypt released.

In an interview with the News Agency Anatolia in Turkey, Saad Al-Shater, the son of imprisoned Muslim Brotherhood leader Khairat Al-Shater, said his father “had in his hand” evidence that will put Obama in prison.

In a thinly veiled threat, Saad Al-Shater said a U.S. delegation was sent to Cairo by Obama to press for the release of the imprisoned Muslim Brotherhood leaders, including his father to prevent the release of explosive information.
Arabic-speaking former PLO member Walid Shoebat has translated the report by the Turkish News Agency Anatolia as follows:

Quote:

In an interview with the Anatolia News Agency, Saad Al-Shater, the son of a Muslim Brotherhood leader, the detained Khairat Al-Shater, said that his father had in his hand evidence that will land the head of United States of America, President Obama, in prison. He stressed that the senior U.S. delegation currently visiting Egypt, knows full well that the fate, future, interests and reputation of their country is in the hands of his father, and they know that he owns the information, documents and recordings that incriminate and would condemn their country. Such documents, he says, were placed in the hands of people who were entrusted inside and outside Egypt, and that the release of his father is the only way for them to prevent a great catastrophe. He stated that a warning was sent threatening to show how the U.S. administration was directly connected. The evidence which  was sent through intermediaries  caused them to change their attitude and corrected their position, and that they have taken serious steps to prove good faith. Saad also said that his father’s safety is more important to the Americans than is the safety of Mohamed Morsi.

Writing in his blog, Shoebat noted that six different Arabic sources confirmed the interview with Saad Al-Shater and the report of Al-Shater’s claims.
Shoebat said the interview with Saad Al-Shater was Aug. 7, making it likely the reference to the “senior U.S. delegation currently visiting Egypt” was about the trip by McCain, Graham and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns.

On Aug. 6, with interim Egyptian Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei, the former general director of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency, McCain and Graham called Khairat Al-Shater and other jailed Muslim Brotherhood leaders “political prisoners.” They told reporters in Cairo that failing to release Muslim Brotherhood prisoners would be “a huge mistake.”

Egypt’s interim president, Adly Mansour, rebuffed the U.S. delegation’s request, telling reporters in Cairo that it constituted an “unacceptable interference in internal politics.”

On Aug. 6, the Associated Press reported the Egyptian government planned to prosecute Khairat Al-Shater and the other imprisoned Muslim Brotherhood leaders on charges of inciting violence last December when Muslim Brotherhood members attacked sit-in protestors outside then-President Mohamed Morsi’s office, resulting in the deaths of 10 people.

ABC News reported that Burns traveled separately late Sunday night, Aug. 4, to the notorious Tora Prison in the middle of Cairo to meet with Khairat Al-Shater, despite claims by the Muslim Brotherhood that Al-Shater refused to meet.

In an Aug. 6 interview with CNN in Egypt, McCain mentioned jailed Khairat Al-Shater, an openly acknowledged Muslim Brotherhood leader, when asked about individuals who could successfully negotiate a future Egyptian government.

The senators created controversy at a press conference in Cairo broadcast by Al Jazeera when McCain called the July 3 ouster of Morsi a “coup,” a word the Obama administration has resisted.

Shoebat has published evidence documenting Khairat Al-Shater has been implicated in weapons trafficking through the Sinai and into Gaza as well as negotiating prisoner releases in exchange for terrorists.

Former U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova, legal representative for Benghazi whistleblower Mark Thompson, claimed this week that intelligence officers with knowledge of the attack on the Benghazi consulate believe it was was tied to 400 surface-to-air missiles intended for Syrian rebels that U.S. officials feared could be used to shoot down an airliner or attack a U.S. embassy.

Two weeks after the Benghazi attack, WND was the first to report sources claiming the Benghazi compound was an intelligence and planning center the CIA used to recruit and arm Islamic rebels to fight Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/08/muslim-brotherhood-claim-weve-got-goods-on-obama/#42hZAK0ABG0tsLBI.99

Attacks On Christians in Egypt Nothing Less Than Satanic Says Leader Inside 'Furnace of Fire'

• 
  (Photo: Reuters/Stringer)
  Riot police clear the area of members of the Muslim Brotherhood and supporters of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, at Rabaa Adawiya square, where they are camping, in Cairo August 14, 2013.
  

By Alex Murashko, Christian Post Reporter
August 16, 2013|10:38 am

The recent barrage of attacks on Christians in Egypt, including on members and churches of the nation's Coptic denomination, are of a scale unseen in modern times and being described as satanic, according to sources living in the country. The persecution watchdog group, Open Doors USA, says Egypt is engulfed in a furnace of fire and Christians are taking on the brunt force of the attacks.

"The attack against the Christians of Egypt is nothing less than a furious satanic attack that aims at terrorizing Christians, imprisoning them at their homes helplessly with no guarantee of protection so their love, peace, hope and testimony may be neutralized," stated an anonymous Christian leader, whose name is being withheld for security reasons, in a letter forwarded to The Christian Post by Open Doors USA.

"We, Christians of Egypt, are facing a severe time of persecution and suffering that we may have not witnessed since the Roman times!" the source explained.

Thursday evening, the overall picture coming out of Egypt from news reports was dire. Egypt's health ministry said that at least 580 people were killed and more than 4,000 injured amidst clashes involving security forces and former President Mohammad Morsi supporters.

Also, some news outlets are reporting that as many as 52 Coptic churches in Egypt have been attacked and some destroyed. Among those churches, the 67-year-old Virgin Mary Church in the Giza province village of Hafr Hakim was torched and looted by protesters, who the night before, chanted against Coptic Christians and called for Egypt to become an "Islamic state," according to CNN.

Much of the most recent violence including killings began when the Egyptian military began clearing out the camps of protesters, unhappy with the ousting of Morsi.



"In all of this mess, the loss of church buildings great, but not to be compared with the loss of the many souls, the pains of the wounds and the fear and anxiety that have filled the hearts of all that can yet happen in Egypt today and the days to come," the source provided by Open Doors, a persecution watchdog, stated. "Buildings can eventually be re-built, but when lost, souls can never be restored."

The Christian leader also stated that the murder last week of the 10-year-old girl, Jessica Boulos, as she was walking back home from her Bible study class at one of Cairo's evangelical churches "by a fanatic Muslim gunman is unbearable and continues to throw it's shadows of pain on her broken family and the entire Christian community of Egypt."

The Christian leader living in Egypt also reported, "Fanatic Muslim supporters of Muslim Brotherhood, armed with all sorts of weapons from machine guns to Molotov bottles have found attacking the peaceful Christians and burning down their churches, shops and houses as an easy way not only to show their dominion on ground, but also to punish multitudes of Christians for standing against the policies of former president Morsi and his fallen regime."

He adds, "In Minya, groups of armed MB supporters landed into a village street and spent the entire evening setting up fire in one Christian shop/house after another until they were done. No police or army forces were present; no one was there to offer help or provide protection."

Open Doors USA spokesperson Jerry Dykstra said, "Egypt is engulfed in a furnace of fire which continues to burn. Christians are taking the brunt force of the attacks since they are seen by the Muslim Brotherhood supporters as helping take down Mohammad Morsi as president six weeks ago. Christian churches, homes, shops, book stores, schools and pharmacies have been looted, burned down and destroyed. Christians have been killed on the streets."

Dykstra adds, "Please pray for Egypt...for boldness for Christians, perseverance and protection and of course for peace."

Despite the horrific violence against them, leaders such as the Open Doors source are calling for Christians to model Christ in Egypt.

"We, Christians of Egypt, need to stay focused and follow the model of our Master, Lord Jesus Christ, who when beaten and slashed did not show any hatred for His persecutors," the leader writes, "He only showed love and asked for forgiveness for them. It sounds to heavenly and far away from human reach, yet, God promised that in times of persecution He would give us strength and comfort our hearts."

He writes that a Christian he knows living near one of the Muslim Brotherhood camps where they have been demonstrating over the last several weeks told him that after the protesters were asked to leave their location, he went to check on his apartment that he had deserted 45 days ago.

"Walking through the neighborhood, he saw many confused and misled men and women who were talking about the assumed victory of the Muslim Brotherhood over the 'enemy' and among themselves, they were praising their leadership. [The Christian] said:

"'I tried hard to hate them. They are, at the end, burning my entire country
down with ignorant and brainwashed minds. But, I found myself moved by
a divine power to go into the shop owned by a Muslim brotherhood man,
located at my building; buy several boxes of water bottles and falling in tears
as I moved from one man to another; one woman to another handing out free
bottles of water to everyone who came in my way. They are people who need
the love of Christ after all." 

The Christian leader from Egypt adds, "Please pray for boldness, perseverance and protection for the Christians and for peace to come back to Egypt."

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/attacks-on-christians-in-egypt-nothing-less-than-satanic-says-leader-inside-furnace-of-fire-102397/#yVRokKfXFU2df4yd.99

ColonelZ wrote:

I had it over in the news section if this is what your talking about.....

Yeah, that was probably the one. Thanks, ColonelZ.

Thanks cz. I read it someplace foreign but the jist was the same.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Cairo Burns: Egypt Mulls Ban of Muslim Brotherhood As It Calls Week of Protests

(Video, RT) - The Muslim Brotherhood may be banned in Egypt, the country’s interim prime minister’s spokesman said. The threat comes after the Islamist movement called for a week of protest against a military crackdown that left over 700 dead.

Egypt's current Prime Minister, Hazem el-Beblawi, proposed on Saturday that the Muslim Brotherhood be dissolved. The idea is being mulled, according to a government spokesman.

Beblawi proposed the dissolution to the minister of social affairs who heads up the ministry tasked with licensing non-governmental organisations. "It is being studied currently," Sherif Shawky said. 

Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood brought tens of thousands of people to the streets across the country following traditional Muslim prayers in what it called a “Friday of Rage.” In Cairo and other cities violent clashes erupted. 

Overall, at least 173 people were killed Friday across Egypt, including some police and members of the security forces. This included 95 in central Cairo alone, a spokesperson said on Saturday. The official death toll from the violence now stands at more than 800 since Wednesday, when security forces evicted two large pro-Morsi sit-in camps in Cairo. The crackdown was the worst episode of violence in the country in decades, triggering condemnation from a number of international organizations and foreign governments.

The Brotherhood has called for protest demonstrations to continue every day for the next week.

"Our rejection of the coup regime has become an Islamic, national and ethical obligation that we can never abandon," the Brotherhood said in a statement.

Hundreds of pro-Morsi supporters barricaded themselves in the El Fath mosque in central Cairo’s Ramses Square, where a major confrontation with the police took place Friday. Police are surrounding the mosque, saying that they would let women and children leave, but want to take male protesters into custody for questioning. The protesters refused these conditions and remained inside as of Saturday morning.

Police and protesters in the mosque are continuing negotiations for a possible resolution of the stand-off. But fears remain high that security forces may eventually storm the building, which would likely cause more casualties.

Egyptian security forces detained more than 1,000 people during Friday’s protests, many of them armed, police said. More than half of the arrests were made in the capital. The streets of Cairo were quiet overnight, as police, pro-interim government militias and neighborhood watches sought to enforce a dusk-to-dawn curfew.

As the stand-off continues, both sides are seeking to rally supporters to their cause. Egyptian state TV has depicted the protest leaders as dangerous terrorists plotting against the country, and its footage of the clashes in Cairo showed people shooting firearms at police.

Other reports said Morsi supporters used rockets in an attack on a governmental building in El Arish, a city in the turbulent Sinai Peninsula, and tried to shoot down a military helicopter flying over Cairo.

Egypt’s Coptic Christian Church issued a statement on Friday, saying it supported the crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. The statement comes after numerous reports of attacks on Christian churches across the country.  

The Muslim Brotherhood has accuses the military of using indiscriminate lethal force against peaceful demonstrations, and have accused the police of sending armed provocateurs into the ranks of the protesters.

Anti-military bloggers on social networks claimed that an army unit had defected to the side of the protesters Friday, taking an armored vehicle with them. The military denied the report as an unfounded rumor coming from the “ill imagination” of the protesters.

The killings in Egypt were condemned by many in the West, including the EU and the US government.

Washington called off key joint military exercise with Egypt in a show of disaffection with the military’s violent crackdown, but stopped short of cutting off annual military aid of $1.3 billion to the country. Britain and France called an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers on Friday to discuss "appropriate measures" in reaction to the violence. Several Latin American countries recalled their ambassadors to Egypt.

Reaction in the Arab world was split toward the Egyptian crisis. Turkey, whose moderate Islamist government is friendly toward the Muslim Brotherhood, strongly criticized the crackdown and called off a joint military drill with Egypt. Criticism also came from Qatar and Tunisia, while Iran voiced concerns that the violence would spread.

Strongly-worded support for the security crackdown on the Egyptian opposition came Friday from Saudi Arabia, a country ruled by an Islamist monarchy. King Abdullah called on Arabs to stand together against "attempts to destabilize" Egypt and endorsed the use of term “terrorists” to describe the Brotherhood protesters.

Saudi’s support was mirrored by the United Arab Emirates, another gulf monarchy. UAE’s King Abdullah said in a statement he stood against “those who fan up flames of hatred and [think that] chaos will promote the victory of Egypt, Islam and Arabism,” Emirates news agency WAP said.

Similar statements of approval came from Bahrain and Jordan. 

In the West Bank city of Hebron, a pro-Morsi demonstration organized by the radical Hamas movement was dispersed by local security forces controlled by the moderate Fatah movement, which runs the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

One key regional player, Israel, remains silent on the situation in Egypt, a country that has played an important part for Israel’s national security since the signing of the Camp David peace accords in 1978.

“Anything we say will be held against us,” an Israeli official said in a comment to The New York Times on condition of anonymity. “If we condemn the violence, we will be accused of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood. And if we say we don’t condemn it, then it looks like Israel is in cahoots with the Egyptian army.”
  
The deteriorating security in the Sinai is certain to be of great concern to Israel, however. On Tuesday, a rocket from Sinai crossed into Israel, where Islamist militants are increasingly active, targeting the southern resort city of Eilat. The Israelis shot it down with an Iron Dome missile interceptor. - RT: Egypt mulls ban of Muslim Brotherhood as it calls week of protests

"Egypt Mulls Ban of Muslim Brotherhood..."

Dang if we did that, there'd be no one running the country!

Saudi subversion: Gulf kingdom backs Egypt in defiance of Washington

In his official August 16 statement, King Abdullah declared, “The people and government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia stood and still stand today with our brothers in Egypt against terrorism, extremism and sedition, and against whoever is trying to interfere in Egypt's internal affairs…” So much for Obama’s call for “dialogue” between the army and the Brotherhood.

http://rt.com/op-edge/egypt-us-military-crackdown-658/

Supreme leader of the Muslim Brotherhood captured in Cairo as Egypt buries 25 policeman slaughtered in militant ambush in Sinai
Aug20
on August 20, 2013
Posted In: Africa, Egypt

• Police held Mohammed Badie close to Cairo site of dispersed sit-in protests
  
• Militants ambushed police vans in Sinai and killed officers execution-style
  
• Situation volatile as it emerges Hosni Mubarak could leave jail this week
  
• Muslim Brotherhood supporters killed in Cairo as they were taken to prison
  

Egypt’s military-backed regime today seized the supreme leader of the Muslim Brotherhood as it pressed on with a crackdown on the former governing party.
Police arrested Mohammed Badie, spiritual head of the group, in Cairo, close to the site of the sit-in by thousands of supporters which was violently dispersed last week, leaving hundreds dead.

The arrest followed a day of bloodshed in which 25 policemen were killed in an ambush in Sinai and a court ruling opening the possibility that jailed ex-dictator Hosni Mubarak could walk free later this week.
Scroll down for video

Seized: Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie sits at a police station after being arrested by security forces in Cairo, in this Egyptian Interior Ministry handout picture taken today

 
Mubarak’s release could fuel the unrest roiling the country after Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, was removed in a military coup on July 3.

Meanwhile, Egyptologists are still counting the cost after the loss of thousands of priceless ancient artefacts after looters ransacked the country’s famous Malawi National Museum.

The world’s most populous Arab nation is rapidly spiralling into crisis and possible civil war after last month’s military coup in effect reversed the changes made by its Arab Spring revolution in 2011.

 Underscoring the growing anger over Morsi’s ouster, suspected Islamic militants yesterday ambushed two minibuses carrying off-duty policemen in the Sinai Peninsula.

They forced the men to lie face down on the sand and shot 25 of them dead.
The brazen daylight attack raised fears that the strategic desert region – which borders Israel and the Gaza Strip – could be plunged into a full-fledged insurgency.



Slaughtered: The caskets of 25 policemen killed early Monday morning in an ambush by militants near the north Sinai town of Rafah lay on the ground after arriving at Almaza military airport in Cairo last night

 

Sombre: Egyptian military and policemen carry the coffins, covered with national flags. The killed policemen were this morning given public funerals with full military honours

 
Badie was captured early this morning in an apartment in the eastern Cairo district of Nasr City, according to security officials and state television.

He was seized close to where Morsi’s supporters had held a six-week sit-in protest that was cleared in a brutal crackdown by security forces last Wednesday.

The private ONTV network showed footage of a man said to be Badie after his arrest. It showed a sombre looking Badie in an off-white Arab robe, or galabiyah, sitting motionless on a sofa as a man in civilian clothes and carrying an assault rifle stands nearby.

Badie and his deputy Khairat el-Shater, who is also in custody, go on trial later this month for their alleged role in the killing of eight protesters outside the Brotherhood’s Cairo headquarters in June.

His arrest is a serious blow to the group at a time when authorities are cracking down on its leaders and mid-ranking officials, detaining scores of them across the country.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.




Slaughter: The scene in Sinai following the killing of 25 police officers by militants near Egypt’s border with Gaza


Ambulance: A vehicle holding the officers’ bodies leaves the hospital at Arish in Sinai

 
Late last night, the 25 slain police officers were given a funeral with full military honours. The men’s coffins, draped in red, white and black Egyptian flags, were jointly carried by army soldiers and policemen, and interim President Adly Mansour declared a nationwide state of mourning to mark their deaths.

Meanwhile, former autocratic ruler Mubarak, 85, who has been in detention since April 2011, two months after he was ousted in a revolution against his rule, could walk free by the end of the week.

He was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison last year for failing to stop the killing of some 900 protesters in the 18-day uprising.

But his sentence was overturned on appeal and he is now being retried, along with his security chief and six top police commanders.

Read more: