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Ataque a bomba e tiroteio matam dois policiais no Egito

17:30 | Abr. 23, 2014
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Dois policiais foram mortos nesta quarta-feira em atos de violência no Egito. Um dos policiais foi morto com a explosão de uma bomba colocada embaixo de seu carro em um subúrbio a oeste do Cairo nesta quarta-feira, o mais recente de uma série de ataques a policiais e militares por grupos militantes muçulmanos que mantém uma campanha de violência desde a deposição do presidente islâmico Mohammed Morsi. O brigadeiro-general Ahmed Zaki foi o segundo policial dessa patente morto este mês em um ataque a bomba, um sinal de que os atos de violência mudaram de ataques suicidas e carros-bomba contra instalações policiais para ataques menores contra oficiais ou pequenos postos policiais.

Também nesta quarta-feira o tenente da polícia Ahmed Saad foi morto em uma troca de tiros que ocorreu quando as forças de seguranças atacaram um esconderijo de militantes perto da cidade de Alexandria.

Não houve reivindicação imediata de responsabilidade pelo ataque a bomba, mas o Ministério do Interior culpou a Irmandade Muçulmana.

Grupos militantes inspirados na Al-Qaeda têm assumido a responsabilidade pela maioria dos ataques recentes no país. Os grupos afirmam que os bombardeios e disparos estão ocorrendo para vingar a repressão feroz aos partidários islâmicos de Morsi. Mais de 1.300 pessoas foram mortas e outras milhares foram presas.

O governo disse que suspeitos de integrar grupos rebeldes mataram mais de 450 policiais e soldados desde julho e acusa a Irmandade Muçulmana de orquestrar a violência, dizendo que ela está por trás dos grupos militantes. A Irmandade nega a acusação, dizendo que o governo a declarou uma organização terrorista para justificar a sua destruição como força política. Fonte: Associated Press.

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Internacional

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Bomb, shooting in Egypt kills 2 police officers

AP Photo CAI101, CAI113, CAI112, CAI121, CAI101

Eds: Edits to tighten. AP Video. With AP Photos.

By SARAH EL DEEB

Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) _ A senior Egyptian police officer was killed by a bomb placed

under his car in a western Cairo suburb Wednesday, the latest in a series of

targeted attacks on police and the military as Islamic militant groups keep up

a campaign of violence since last summer's ouster of Islamist President

Mohammed Morsi.

Brig. Gen. Ahmed Zaki was the second police officer of that rank killed this

month in a bombing, a sign of how the violence has shifted from high-profile

suicide and car bombings against police installations toward more low-level

attacks on individual officers or small police posts.

Also Wednesday, a police lieutenant was killed in a gun battle that erupted as

security forces raided a militant hideout near the Mediterranean coastal city

of Alexandria.

Al-Qaida-inspired militant groups have claimed responsibility for most of the

attacks. The groups have said their bombings and shootings are to avenge the

fierce crackdown on Morsi's Islamist supporters in which more than 1,300

people have been killed and thousands arrested. The government says suspected

militants have killed more than 450 policemen and soldiers since July.

The government accuses Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood of orchestrating the

violence, saying it is ultimately behind the militant groups. It declared the

group a terrorist organization late last year. The Brotherhood denies the

claim, saying the terror brand aims to justify wiping it out as a political

force.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Wednesday's killing, but

the Interior Ministry blamed the Brotherhood.

``The Egyptian police continue its determined and decisive confrontation in

its battle against terrorism,'' ministry spokesman Hani Abdel-Latif said in a

televised statement. The police ``will continue their efforts to face up to

these terrorist operations that are plotted by the terrorist Muslim

Brotherhood group.''

Zaki was heading to work early Wednesday from his home in the Cairo suburb of

6th of October when the bomb detonated under the police car assigned to

transport him, critically wounding him. He later died in hospital, Abdel-Latif

said. Two conscripts were wounded.

Zaki is one of the most senior officers to be killed in the campaign of

violence. He was in the leadership of the Central Security Forces, the riot

police branch that takes the lead role in dealing with protests and general

security.

A senior security official in Cairo said Zaki had sat through planning

meetings for the Aug. 14 operation that broke up two pro-Morsi sit-ins in the

capital, in which security forces killed more than 600 protesters. The

official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk

to journalists.

Speaking to The Associated Press, Abdel-Latif said he was not aware of what

Zaki's tasks included, but dismissed the possibility he was targeted for any

specific role he played.

``They are targeting police force wherever they are,'' he said. ``They make a

homemade bomb and toss it at police.''

He pointed out that traffic police have also been hit and that recently even a

civilian wearing a police-style beret had a bomb lobbed at his vehicle.

Another brigadier general was killed on April 2 when three bombs were placed

by a riot police post outside Cairo University, where protests by largely

Morsi supporters have been regular and often bloody since the start of

academic year in September.

A new group that first appeared in January, Ajnad Misr, or ``Egypt's

Soldiers,'' claimed responsibility for that bombing. In a statement, it said

it was waging a campaign of retribution and that the slain police general had

been involved in killings of protesters. It said the attack also came in

response to increased detentions of female protesters.

On Wednesday, new clashes between security forces and students broke out near

or outside universities following protests in Cairo and in the cities of

Fayoum and Assiut, as well as others. One student was injured in Fayoum by

birdshot, while police also fired tear gas in the clashes.

In Alexandria, Lt. Ahmed Saad was shot and killed during a raid on a militant

hideout. Militants opened fire on the police as they moved on the hideout in a

farm area in Borg al-Arab, a western district on the Alexandria's outskirts,

the city's police chief Police Maj. Gen. Amin Ezzedin told the state news

agency MENA. He said one suspect was also killed and another arested.

Abdel-Latif said two suspects were arrested and are believed to be members of

Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, one of Egypt's main militant groups. Abdel-Latif said

the cell was planning attacks on security forces.

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