Hariri condemns latest attacks in Egypt

Prime Minister Saad Hariri condemned on Monday the terrorist attacks that targeted the Egyptian army lately.

Hariri’s comments were made in a cable sent to the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi whereby he said that “the criminal groups are trying to destabilize Egypt.”

“May God protect you and grant you victory in your war against them,” Hariri added.

Hundreds gathered to mourn seven of the victims of a militant attack on security forces in Egypt's western desert that three security sources said killed at least 52.

Mourners in the Egyptian cities of Suez, Gharbiya, and Minya carried the coffins of police officers and conscripts who had been killed in gun battles on Friday that erupted in the remote desert. Egyptian authorities said only 16 men had died when their patrol came under attack.

Egypt's security forces suffered one of their heaviest attacks when militants firing rockets and detonating explosives hit a police operation.

Egyptian authorities on Saturday said two police operations were moving in on a suspected militant hideout on Friday when one of the patrols came under fire from heavy weapons in a remote area around 135 km southwest of Cairo.

The interior ministry said 16 police were killed in that part of the operation, and 13 more were wounded. At least 15 militants were also killed in the gun fight. The statement did not give details on any casualties in the other police patrol.

Security has been a key point for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a former military commander who presents himself as a bulwark against terrorism after leading the ouster of president Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013. Sisi was elected on a landslide a year later.

No group made any claim or statement about Friday's operation not far from the capital.

 

 

LBCI/REUTERS