Clashes and clampdowns

By Jailan Halawi

The two were killed in the ensuing shoot-out after police stormed the hideout in the Mallawi region of Minya. Two policemen were wounded, in the first clash between security forces and militants since July.

The dead, identified as Mohamed Sayed Riyad and Nadi Younes Abdel-Azim, were wanted by the police for a series of attacks which killed or injured 60 policemen and civilians.

Earlier on Saturday, state security prosecutors began questioning 30 members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood on charges of attempting to revive the group's activities and incite a rebellion.

The arrests are part of an intermittent crackdown on the Brotherhood, which began in 1995 and was largely successful in silencing the previously-tolerated group. The government had accused the Brotherhood of supporting Islamist militants, who launched a campaign of violence in an attempt to establish an Islamic state. The Brotherhood backs the establishment of an Islamic state but denies that it supports the use of violence.

The suspects, who include doctors and students, were accused of holding secret meetings in the working-class neighbourhood of Sayeda Aisha to discuss ways of spreading the Brotherhood's influence to other parts of the country, in an attempt to "incite a rebellion", police said.

They also face charges of being members of an illegal organisation which challenges the constitution and obstructs the functioning of the government.

Police also claim they have seized literature containing "extremist ideology" from those arrested.

The Brotherhood's spokesman Maamoun El-Hodeibi told the Weekly that the suspects "were not involved in any illegal activity. The arrests were made ahead of university student elections because the government is trying to prevent Islamists winning."