Egypt detains 30 Brotherhood supporters over assassination attempts

Egypt's prosecution ordered a 15-day detention of 30 defendants loyal to the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood group over recent anti-government assassination attempts on Sunday, reported the official MENA news agency.

The defendants are accused of carrying out the recent failed murder attempts against the country's assistant general prosecutor, Judge Zakariya Abdel-Aziz Osman, and former mufti, Ali Gomaa, as well as other terrorist activities.

The state security prosecution, the country's top homeland security department, also charged the 30 defendants of forming a terrorist cell instructed by fugitive Brotherhood leading members to target Egyptian security forces.

Egypt has been suffering from growing terrorist activities since the military removed former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to mass protests against his one-year rule and his currently outlawed Brotherhood group.

Subsequent security crackdowns against Morsi's supporters, mostly from the Brotherhood, killed around 1,000 of them and thousands more were arrested as the group was eventually blacklisted as a terrorist organization.

Morsi along with thousands of his supporters are currently in custody over several charges ranging from inciting violence to espionage.

In October, Egypt's top court, the Court of Cassation, confirmed a 20-year prison sentence against Morsi over inciting violence among his supporters and opponents outside the presidential palace in 2012 which left 10 people dead.

Anti-government attacks in the past few years killed hundreds of police and military men, with a Sinai-based group loyal to the regional Islamic State group claiming responsibility for most of them.

Following Morsi's removal from power, security forces killed over 1,000 militants and arrested a similar number of suspects in Sinai as part of the country's "war against terrorism" declared by then military chief and current President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi. Endit