Cairo: Police officials have been surrounding the Arab district in the suburb of Maadi where an investigation indicates the so-called "stabber , who has fueled rumors and conspiracy theories in the local press, is hiding out. Sources said the attacker is a patient who escaped from a hospital of mental disease and psychological disorders. According to a police officer at the Maadi police station, Fatma Eleiwaa, the stabbed nurse, said the attacker appears to be mentally handicapped. We have also received a letter from the hospital saying that the description of the perpetrator matches that of a patient who escaped from their wards, the police officer told The Daily Star Egypt. Security forces and police officers confirm that arresting the attacker will be announced within a matter of hours. We are very well-distributed in all Maadi districts to arrest the attacker and we will manage to arrest him as soon as it can be, said the police source. The Maadi stabbers story is the second such wave of crimes to capture the imagination of Cairenes and the media; in October, a gang of pedophiles was arrested. The gang, led by one Ramadan Mansour, 26, confessed to raping, sexually abusing, and murdering several young men and boys. Both crimes seem to be psychopathic and sexual in nature, which is likely to begin a controversial reassessment of Egyptian society, sexual repression and what has become of it in recent years. With reports of a Maadi stabber persisting for nearly a month, residents and the media have now reported a total of 48 attacks in the neighborhoods of Al Arab, Bastateen Hadayek Al Maadi, and Saqr Qureish.
