Egyptian troops storm Islamist stronghold
KERDASA, Egypt - Security forces backed by combat vehicles and helicopters stormed a town near the Pyramids, famed among tourists for its traditional rugs and dresses, aiming to drive out Islamist militants who held sway there for over a month, brandishing their weapons as they roamed its streets.
KERDASA, Egypt - Security forces backed by combat vehicles and helicopters stormed a town near the Pyramids, famed among tourists for its traditional rugs and dresses, aiming to drive out Islamist militants who held sway there for over a month, brandishing their weapons as they roamed its streets.
After troops swept in, many residents of Kerdasa greeted the forces with cheers, women ululating, and others handing them out soft drinks, one witness said. The assault, in which a police general was shot to death by militants, highlighted authorities' stepped-up resolve to move against strongholds of armed supporters of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, who was ousted by the military on July 3.
But Kerdasa residents expressed fear that the security crackdown will only drive out the militants temporarily. They said nearby villages on Cairo's western outskirts, which are home to some of Egypt's well-known families with a history of militancy, will continue to provide cover for those who took control of the town.
"I wish this had happened a month ago," said Youssef Hussein, a resident of Kerdasa, hailing the early morning raid on his hometown. "We have been living in a bubble. We thought we could die every day. Kerdasa has really been wrecked."
The offensive showcases an Egyptian society still in turmoil over Morsi's ouster. The new military-backed leadership has been a wide-scale crackdown on his supporters, while the most hard-core elements of Morsi's Islamist backers have unleashed a campaign of violence ranging from car bombs to attacks on Christians.
Militants took control of Kerdasa in mid-August, when a mob attacked the local police station, killed 15 policemen and mutilated their bodies. It was part of a wave of retaliatory violence after security forces cracked down on the main pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo with heavy assaults that killed hundreds.
Earlier this week, a large army-police force stormed another town where militants took control after the coup - Dalga, in southern Egypt.
On Thursday, they turned to Kerdasa, with a large force of troops and policemen encircling the town around 6 a.m.
The troops moved into the town, conducting house-to-house raids searching for militants. They arrested 65 suspects, including three wanted for the attack on the police station, state TV reported.
Commander's Last Fight
"Let's go, men! Go in, toward martyrdom," Police Gen. Nabil Farrag, a pistol in one hand and a walkie-talkie in the other, exhorted his men Thursday morning as they prepared to storm a town held by Islamic militants outside Cairo.
Seconds later, a barrage of gunfire came from nearby rooftops in the town of Kerdasa onto the police and troops deployed on a highway overpass. The troops, and a group of journalists with them, threw themselves to the ground. There was little cover on the exposed overpass as the bullets flew around them in all directions.
It took several minutes for the fire to ease enough for policemen, some in plainclothes, to rush to the side of their commander. They stripped off his flak jacket and saw blood spreading in Farrag's white uniform. He had been hit on the right side, under his arm. They carried Farrag to a military vehicle, loaded him in and drove off to a hospital.
The Interior Ministry later reported that Farrag, the deputy security chief of Cairo's sister city Giza, had died. - APEndText
