Egyptian police shoot dead four on outskirts of Cairo

Egypt’s interior ministry said last night that its forces killed four people it said were fugitive terrorists plotting to carry out hostile operations.

The men were killed after allegedly opening fire on security forces who approached them in Giza, on the southwestern edge of the Egyptian capital Cairo, where they were meeting to plan an attack, the ministry said in a statement, though this statement has been disputed.

It identified one of them as Sameh Mohamed Farahat Abd El-Mageed, a 30-year-old leader of what it alleged was a “takfiri” group. Takfiri is a term for hardliners who see other Muslims as infidels, often as a justification for attacking them.

Takfiris can be from any Muslim denomination that view others as heretics. This includes Daesh, and also Iranian-sponsored Shia jihadists operating in Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

Ammunition, weapons and a car were found at the scene, the statement said. It did not identify the three other men.

General-turned-president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi launched the toughest crackdown on Islamists in Egypt’s modern history after toppling President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 following protests against his turbulent year in office.

The Brotherhood are a non-violent organisation, and have conducted peaceful resistance against the various secular dictators who have held power in Egypt for more than half a century. Egyptian dictators all come from the army, and are responsible for decades of mismanagement, corruption and human rights abuses.

In October, police forces killed a senior Muslim Brotherhood leader who the interior ministry described as responsible for the group’s “armed wing”, as well as his aide. It said the men were killed in a shootout.

A lawyer representing the two men’s families told Reuters they both surrendered as soon as police arrived and did not fire at security forces.