The Ministry of Interior (MOI) announced on Thursday night that it arrested 68 people in the villages of Kerdasa and Nahia in Giza governorate during its security operation, which was launched Thursday morning. MOI added that the convicts, who had arrest warrants issued against them, possessed an undisclosed number of machineguns and birdshot guns, 11 hand grenades and "a large amount of ammunition." Among the arrested was Somaya Shanan, who is accused of dead body mutilation during the attack on the Kerdasa police station last month, which resulted in the death of 11 policemen, according to state-owned Al-Ahram. Shanan is the mother of Tarek Shanan, who also has an arrest warrant issued against him for the same case. Al-Ahram also reported that security forces are tracking Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya's prominent leader, Tarek Al-Zomor, who is allegedly in a villa in Nahia. Al-Zomor is accused of inciting and participating in the Bein Al-Sarayat clashes. Aswat Masriya reported that Ali AbdelRahman, Giza governor, decided to postpone the beginning of the scholastic year of schools in Kerdasa and Nahia for a week, due to the unresolved security situation. Schools nationwide are set to begin on Saturday. On Friday, a military funeral was held for Giza Deputy Security director, Nabil Farag, who was shot dead on Thursday in the presence of Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi, Defense Minister Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi and Minister of Interior, Mohamed Ibrahim. The funeral was held after the Friday prayers in Al Rashdan mosque in Nasr City. On the other hand, The Muslim Brotherhood's English Twitter account Ikhwanweb tweeted Thursday morning: "Kerdasa in Giza is under attack by police and army forces; civilians are being terrorised..." The Brotherhood had used similar words to describe the security operation in Delga village in Minya earlier this week, calling it a "full scale attack" on the village. The Brotherhood's official Facebook page, Ikhwan Online, alleged that security forces have destroyed the contents of one home in Kerdasa and burned two other homes after looking for their owners and not finding them inside. The security operation in Kerdasa, which was launched in the early hours of Thursday by the police, in cooperation with the armed forces, was enforced to "implement the prosecution's orders to arrest a number of terrorists and fugitives" involved in the attack on the Kerdasa police station last month, which left 11 policemen dead, according to a statement issued by MOI.
