Update: Suspects arrested in Kerdasa violence

Attorney General Ahmed Refaat went to the North Giza Prosecution on Thursday to identify the body of slain General Nabil Farrag, the assistant security director of Giza who was killed today in the course of a security crackdown on the Giza village of Kerdasa, thought by the government to be a hotbed of Islamist insurgents.

Refaat ordered Farrag's body to be released to his family for a proper burial, the state-run news site Ahram Gate reported.

The site also said that a team from the prosecution is currently taking the testimonies of injured security personnel who are receiving medical treatment at the police hospital in Agouza.

A suspect implicated in the ongoing violence in Kerdasa was arrested earlier Thursday afternoon, reported the privately owned daily Al-Masry Al-Youm (AMAY). The individual was accused of throwing a grenade at security forces deployed there, and was reportedly in possession of a machine gun, three bullet cases and seven grenades.

Police forces also said that they arrested Ahmed Mahmoud Oweis, who is accused of being the leader of the brutal attack on the Kerdasa Police Station on August 14, resulting in the murder of 11 officers stationed there, AMAY reported. Armed men had stormed the station following the deadly dispersal of the Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins calling for the reinstatement of deposed President Mohamed Morsi.

Farrag was killed earlier in the day as police and Armed Forces backed by military helicopters launched the operation, arresting 48 accused of involvement in the August 14 incident, according to an Interior Ministry statement. The 48 suspects were allegedly in possession of automatic weapons, rubber bullets and hand grenades, according to the ministry.

After security forces seized the area early Thursday morning, gunmen allegedly retaliated with a volley of heavy gunfire from the rooftops of residential buildings, schools and mosque minarets, the ministry statement said.

Several television channels streamed footage of the security forces entering the village. The officer was killed in the ensuing exchange of gunfire between police forces and armed men reportedly hiding in a nearby school.

“Security forces had to engage in an exchange of gunfire, which resulted in the death of General Nabil Farrag, assistant Giza security director,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The privately-owned satellite channel Al-Mehwar showed the officer falling after a bullet pierced his vest from the side. He was carried away from the scene by security forces as military helicopters flew over the area.

In its statement, the ministry said it launched the Kerdasa operation this morning to implement “orders from the general prosecution to arrest fugitive terrorist elements implicated in the attack on the police station that left 11 dead.”

The ministry called on area residents to cooperate with security forces and stay away from the scene of the operations.

AMAY reported that armored vehicles, Central Security Forces and Armed Forces conscripts jointly conducted the crackdown on the village.

A security source told the newspaper that this operation targeted specific suspects whose identity and location had already been determined.  

"The residents are not the target of the operation to cleanse Kerdasa. It is rather previously and precisely identified elements," he claimed.

The dispersal of the sit-ins in August that led to the death of hundreds was followed by a string of attacks on police stations across the country. In Kerdasa, residents have told journalists that the acts of violence were prompted by the fact that people from the village were killed at the sit-ins.