Egyptian security forces yesterday opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades and machineguns on members of a suspected criminal clan they have besieged in a town in southern Egypt. Thirty-seven members of the Awlad Al Hanafi clan, suspected of drugs and weapons dealing, have been holed up for nearly a week in the small town of Nakhila, where security sources say they have taken up to 250 hostages. The sources did not have information on casualties but said the attack destroyed five houses in the town, about 350km south of Cairo. Security forces also fired from boats on the Nile on the part of the town where the wanted were besieged. Senior Hanafi family member Izzat Mohammed Hanafi said by telephone that the clan would kill some of the hostages, which he said numbered 2,000, and respond with heavy weapons if the security forces did not halt their attack.
I know it's really hard to remember, but Egypt was once a great civilization. |