News Flash
CAIRO, July 20, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Egypt said Sunday two suspected militants were shot dead and a civilian killed in a shootout with security forces during a raid in Cairo that authorities said thwarted a "terrorist" plot.
The raid followed recent intelligence that the Hasm movement, said to be linked with the Muslim Brotherhood, was "preparing to revive its activities and commit hostile operations targeting security and economic facilities" inside Egypt.
Police raided a "militant hideout" in Cairo's densely populated neighbourhood of Bulaq al-Dakrour, the ministry said in its statement, without disclosing when it occurred.
During the raid, two suspects "began firing randomly at the forces and the surrounding area", resulting in their deaths and that of a passerby, it added.
The statement added that authorities had identified five leaders of the plot besides those killed, all of whom had received life sentences in absentia for a series of attacks that rocked Egypt in the aftermath of the 2013 overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.
Following Morsi's ouster, the Muslim Brotherhood group was outlawed in Egypt and many of its members were imprisoned, while others moved to different countries including Turkey and Qatar.
Hasm, once blamed for a series of assassination attempts and bombings between 2016 and 2019, had largely faded from public view.
Since toppling Morsi, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's administration has often projected itself as a guarantor of "peace and security". But the more than decade-long crackdown has curtailed nearly all space for dissent, according to rights groups.
The ministry on Sunday said one of the suspects killed in the shootout had received advanced military training "in a neighbouring country", before entering Egypt through an illegal border crossing, allegedly to carry out attacks.
The ministry's statement came after a video circulated on social media platforms this month appeared to show Hasm members conducting live-fire drills in a desert setting.
