By Ahmed Moussa Following last November's Luxor massacre, in which 58 tourists were killed, Habib El-Adli took over as interior minister and immediately began enforcing a new police strategy. According to security sources, this strategy has resulted in a sharp decline in the number of operations carried out by Islamist militants. Police forces have tightened the noose around militants taking refuge in secret hide-outs in the governorates of southern Egypt. During the past seven months, 16 militants were killed in the governorate of Minya, including Emad Rushdi Amin, believed to be the local military commander of the Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya. Also included are Gamal Mahmoud Farghali, Yehia Ali Seddiq and Hamza Abdel-Hamid Abdel-Mu'ezz. The search is continuing for a "very limited" number of suspected militants who are still at large, the sources said. They include Farid Salem Kadwani, Rifaat Zeidan, Mohamed Abdel-Rahman Salama, Alaa Atiya, Abdel-Hamid Abu Aqrab and Mahmoud El-Farshouti. In the latest incident of violence, a Copt and a Muslim were killed and three other persons wounded Monday night in an attack by militants at the village of Dairut-Nakhla near Mallawi in Minya province. Interior Ministry sources said that three or four militants burst into the shop of a Coptic wood trader and opened fire, killing him instantly and wounding his son. The trader had reportedly refused to pay the militants "protection" money. As the assailants fled, they opened fire at passers-by, killing a Muslim and wounding two others. The sources said that security forces have managed to scale down the Gama'a's activities in Minya, Assiut and Qena by 85 per cent. Their sources of financing and armament have been cut off completely. Security forces have introduced a pre-emptive strategy. Last month, the forces managed to foil a planned attack against a police patrol in the town of Abu Qurqas, in Minya province, and two militants were killed in the shoot-out. The number of victims killed in acts of terrorism has also dropped significantly. Nine civilians and six policemen were killed during the past seven months, in addition to the 16 dead militant suspects. The figures for 1997 were much higher: 32 militants, 44 policemen and 50 civilians. Another feature of the new security strategy is to release those who were detained under the Emergency Law once it was proven that they were not involved in any terrorist operations. During the past seven months, about 2,500 detainees were released -- quietly. Previously, the release of any group of detainees was played up by the press and the media, and the detainees were profiled as "repentants" who had renounced the Gama'a's ideology. Prison conditions have also improved and medical care is available both inside the prisons and in government-run hospitals. Last March, 22 Gama'a detainees asked the chairman of the Supreme State Security Court, Samir Abul-Ma'ati, not to release them until they had completed their medical treatment at Tora Prison and Qasr Al-Aini Hospital. The Interior Ministry is also continuing the policy of organising discussions between Islamic scholars and detainees with the aim of "correcting their misconceptions [the detainees']". As many as 5,000 detainees have declared that they had been "deceived" and have decided to renounce the Gama'a's ideology. The ministry has also scaled down haphazard arrests which, in the past, produced counter-reactions targeting policemen.
