BEHERIA - A policeman killed an ex-convict in a shootout in Kom Hamada, Beheira Governorate, on Friday when trying to arrest the man along with three accomplices suspected of attempting to gang rape a 19-year-old girl near a train station, security sources said. The security forces were trying to track down the suspects believed to be involved in the kidnapping of the girl. The sources identified the dead man as ex-convict Mohamed Moustafa. However they did not disclose the names of the other suspects. They said that Warrant Sergeant Emad Abdul Aziz opened fire after the men had refused to release the victim, whom they dragged to a vacant one-storey building near Kom Hamada train station, where they intended to rape her. The girl was crying for help. Abdul Aziz, armed with a handgun, stormed into the building and ordered the four men to release the girl, whom the police identified only as Ikram. “When the four men refused to obey, the policeman started to shoot," the sources said, adding that one of the men was killed, while the other three managed to escape. A security source said the killed man may be one of many inmates who escaped from a nearby prison after the January 25 revolution. The police launched a large-scale hunt for the three men. Beheira prosecutors and security officials arrived in Kom Hamada to take part in the investigation, the sources said. The police vowed to use all available means to crack down on what they called "deviant individuals" who threatened stability and security. The announcement followed widespread complaints that thugs had spread fear in Egypt after the January 25 revolution. Egypt witnessed a sharp rise in attacks on police stations, hospitals and places of worship, sometimes even in broad daylight. The police promised to use all the resources to confront and completely stop these attacks as soon as possible and that the criminals would be severely punished.
