Egypt Forces Hunt down Militants

Local Editor

Security forces on Friday hunted down militants in a village near Cairo amid a lull in clashes with gunmen, as Egyptian state media praised the "liberation" of extremists bastion Kerdassah.

A police general was shot dead when security forces stormed the village near the Giza pyramids on Thursday in the latest crackdown on extremists.

The funeral of Giza deputy security chief Nabil Farrag was due to take place after Friday prayers -at the same time as fresh protests called by ousted President Mohammad Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood group.
State television said the fighting in Kerdassah had now eased and that troops were carrying out house-to-house searches for militants on the run.

State television said they were hunting for those responsible for an August "massacre" of 11 policemen in Kerdassah.
The interior ministry said 68 wanted men have now been arrested along with their weapons in the operation launched after dawn on Thursday.
The 11 policemen were found killed on August 14, just hours after security forces cracked down on two camps of Mursi supporters in the capital.

In parallel, security forces on Monday raided the central town of Delga in Minya province, which was held by hardline extremists for more than a month.
Egypt has been gripped by security-related problems since the 2011 uprising that toppled long-time president Hosni Mubarak, but the unrest surged after the ouster of Mursi on July 3.

The army has also been engaged in a campaign in the Sinai peninsula, pouring in troops and armor to crush militant attacks, which increased after Mursi's ouster.

Source: News agencies, Edited by website team