Egyptian police killed Mohamed Adel Balboula, who was believed to be a member of the armed Islamist Hassm movement, in a firefight in the Damietta village of Basarta, according to an Interior Ministry statement published on Friday. Balboula was a suspect in the investigation into the death of police guard Masoud Abdallah al-Amir, who was shot on his way to work on March 27.
The ministry’s statement alleged that Balboula was a fugitive who had been convicted in absentia in several cases, while drawing a line of association between Hassm and the banned Muslim Brotherhood.
Security forces also reportedly raided several “hideouts,” confiscating two shotguns, two automatic weapons caches including 220 rounds of ammunition.
In a statement published on Saturday, the Interior Ministry asserted it continues to trace suspected members of the militant groups Hassm and Lewaa al-Thawra in Alexandria, Monufiya and Beheira. According to the statement, police killed 28-year-old carpenter Abou al-Fottooh al-Beshbeishy in Beheira and 30-year-old Islam al-Sayed in Alexandria in firefights. Five more suspects were arrested in Alexandria.
A few hours after Abdallah al-Amir was shot while traveling to Basarta, police raided the town, prompting activists to create the hashtag Basarta under siege on Facebook through which they documented police violations during the raid.
“Security forces break into the homes of the suspects’ families several times a day, destroy their belongings and interrogate everyone in the house,” a Basarta resident speaking on the condition of anonymity told Mada Masr.
The security crackdown in Basarta remains ongoing. Police forces are stationed at the center of the town and at its entrances, where they request the national identification documents of anyone who wishes to enter or exit the town.
“Security forces evicted some families from their homes and settled in them during the past period,” said the Basarta resident, who added that police confiscated mobile phones and threatened families with arrest if they spoke to the media or wrote about the police’s actions on social media.
Dozens of the town’s residents were in fact arrested, the Basarta resident asserted.
The Interior Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
The privately owned Al-Bedaiah news portal published photos depicting police forces stationed inside the town and some of the damage done to private residencies.
The Facebook page “Resistance Media,” which provides coverage the Hassm and Lewaa al-Thawra militant groups’ operations, published photos that allegedly depict Balboula’s body.
Basarta has been the site of several demonstrations in support of former President Mohamed Morsi following his ouster in 2013. The anti-government protests often concluded in violent confrontations with police forces.
Hassm and Lewaa al-Thawra have conducted several attacks in the past few weeks targeting police personnel. Lewaa al-Thawra claimed responsibility last week for an attack on a police training facility in Gharbiya’s Tanta city in which low-ranking police officer Mohamed Nofal was killed and 15 others who were mostly police personnel were injured. Hassm claimed responsibility in March for an explosion that targeted a security patrol in the town of Bahtim located in the Nile Delta governorate of Qalyubiya in which five police personnel were injured and a police vehicle was damaged.
Established following Morsi’s ouster and the violent dispersal of the Rabea al-Adaweya and Nahda sit-ins, Hassm and Lewaa al-Thawra distinguish between political and ideological actions, as it seems willing to build bridges with Egyptians by appealing to public sentiment, an approach that differs from other militant groups.
One of the most notable of Hassm’s statements came when the group condemned December’s deadly bombing of the St. Peter and St. Paul Church in Cairo, which was claimed by the Egyptian Islamic State affiliate the Province of Sinai. In its statement, Hassm asserted that the murder of children, women, elderly, or worshipers is against the teachings of the Prophet Mohamed.
Hassm welcomed the creation of Lewaa al-Thawra and commended the assassination of Brigadier General ِAdel Ragaei last November.
Following the events of June 2013, Muslim Brotherhood members were divided on whether their fight against the regime should be militant. Some of its members are believed to have lended support to militant groups such as Jabhat al-Muqawama al-Shaabiyya (the Popular Resistance Front) and Iqab al-Thawri (Revolutionary Punishment). However, there is are no official ties between militant groups and the Muslim Brotherhood.