A Muslim Brotherhood’s official spokesman has said that the killing of 25 Egyptian soldiers in Sinai earlier on Monday was meant to be a cover-up for the murder of 36 Islamist detainees on Sunday. (Also see: Egypt’s Conflict with Mohamed Morsi Loyalists Puts Media in Bind)
At least 25 recruits were killed and three were wounded on Monday when suspected militants fired rocket-propelled grenades at two buses carrying them in North Sinai.
Whereas 36 Islamists died at a Cairo prison on Sunday, in an incident that the authorities described as a thwarted jailbreak and the Brotherhood referred to as murder of innocents.
“We do not rule out that these killings are intended as a cover up for the serious qualitative and flagrant development in the case of assassinating Egyptians at the Abu Zaabal prison, where dozens were martyred,” Ahmed Aref, the Brotherhood’s spokesman said in a statement on his official page.
Aref concluded his statement by calling on the Egyptians to preform prayers for the souls of those who died yesterday at the prison and today in Sinai.
Nuns paraded like POWs in Upper Egypt – NGO
An Egyptian rights group has condemned the violations that women were subjected to during the latest sectarian confrontations in the Upper Egypt town of Beni Suef.
“Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood stormed the Franciscan School in Beni Suef, detained three nuns from the school and then paraded them on the streets like prisoners of war,” the Cairo Center for Development and Human Rights said in a statement issued on Monday.
The statement added that two other women working in the school were subjected to sexual violence while confronting the raging assailants who also looted and torched the school.
At least 40 churches were attacked, torched and looted in the four days following the security crackdown on the two Cairo protest camps of Islamist supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsi.
Homes and shops that belong to Egypt’s Christian minority were also attacked and looted, in a significant rise of sectarian violence.
The human rights center demanded that the Egyptian police protect civilians from religious extremists, stressing that the assailants should be arrested immediately and that houses of worship should be offered protection.
No photograph was immediately available.
Egypt’s Foreign Minister visits Sudan
Egypt’s Foreign Affairs Minister Nabil Fahmy went to Sudan on Monday, in the first visit for a diplomatic official since the outbreak of violence across the country earlier this week, the state-owned news agency reported.
The visit comes within the framework of exchanging views and dialogue, taking into consideration that threats to Egypt’s security also affect the Sudanese national security, according to the Middle East News Agency.
Attack in North Sinai leaves 24 killed, three injured
At least 24 security forces recruits were killed and three were wounded on Monday, when suspected militants fired rocket-propelled grenades at two buses carrying the soldiers to Arish in North Sinai, security sources said.
The sources added that the buses were attacked on the International Rafah/Arish road while carrying the recruits on their way to vacation.
The three injured soldiers, in a critical condition, were transferred to the Arish Military Hospital for treatment.
Supporters of Mohamed Morsi to stage more protests on Monday
Supporters of deposed Islamist President Mohamed Morsi are going to stage nine rallies across Cairo and Giza on Monday after afternoon prayers, the National Alliance to Support Legitimacy said in a statement.
A limited number of demonstrators marched on Sunday in two “anti-coup” rallies to Roxy Square in Heliopolis and the High Constitutional Court in Maadi, ending their protests an hour before the curfew started.
The marches are planned to set off from several mosques in Giza, Dokki, Imbaba and Helwan districts.
The National Alliance to Support Legitimacy has called for week-long protests across Egypt, dubbing it as the “Week of Departure”, following the security crackdown on the Islamist protest camps that were set-up in support of the deposed president Mohamed Morsi.
24 army conscripts killed in Northern Sinai attack
At least 24 Egyptian army conscripts were killed early on Monday in an armed attack on two buses transferring them in Northern Sinia’s Arish, security sources said.
