Egypt announces extra-judicial killing of 5 members of Hasm movement

Egypt’s interior ministry announced on Tuesday that it has killed five opponents who were allegedly members of the Hasm movement.

The ministry added that Egyptian security forces raided a hideout for the movement’s members in the northern province in Qalyoubia and killed five persons during a shootout.

Four of the five killed were identified and are wanted in military court cases over alleged assassination attempts targeting security officials, according to the interior ministry. No information was revealed about the fifth killed person.

According to the statement, Egyptian authorities also arrested 15 persons caught in possession of weapons and ammunition in the Marg neighbourhood, and they are also wanted in several court cases.

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The ministry said that those killed and arrested are “members of the Hasm movement,” which it considers to be “the Muslim Brotherhood’s armed wing.”

The Muslim Brotherhood has repeatedly stressed its rejection of violence and denied any relationship to the Hasm movement.

Local and international human rights groups accuse Egypt’s security forces of extrajudicial extermination of unarmed opponents, which the Egyptian government denies.

The Hasm movement emerged in July 2016 and it has claimed responsibility for several armed attacks in which it targeted judges and security and military officials in Egypt.