Four militants killed in shootout with police

By Mona El-Nahhas

One member of the group surrendered while a sixth, identified as Gamal Mahmoud Farghali, escaped. Police were combing nearby plantations in search of the fugitive.

According to an Interior Ministry statement, a civilian who was passing by was killed by the militants' fire while a policeman from the Central Security Forces was wounded in the shoulder during the exchange.

The killed militants included Emad Rushdi Amin, described as the provincial Gama'a commander and the mastermind of all terrorist attacks that have been staged in Minya since 1992. The other three dead militants, described as members of the Gama'a's military wing, were identified as Seoudi Ahmed Sayed, Ahmed Mahmoud Abdella and Shehata Mohamed Shehata. They were said to have taken part in several assassinations and attempted assassinations. The name of the militant who surrendered was not disclosed.

The last terrorist act committed by the group was an attack last March on a police patrol car carrying a police officer and four policemen in the Beni Mazar district. All the five policemen were killed while the militants escaped to Mallawi where they took refuge in a plantation.

Tipped about the location of their hideout, security forces encircled the area on Monday and demanded that they surrender. The militants responded by opening fire, prompting police to return fire.

Inside the hideout, police found four Russian-made automatic rifles, ammunition and papers containing "important" information about the Gama'a.

During the past two months, security forces have attacked two militant hideouts in southern Egypt, killing eight suspects.