Six Brotherhood members killed in village raid in Egypt's Fayoum

Egyptian security forces killed six members of the Muslim Brotherhood in a village in Egypt’s south-western province of Fayoum, said the group’s spokesman on Thursday.

“The ministry of interior’s militia killed a group of honourable men in Fayoum in an attempt to silence any voice calling for the freedom of this nation from the injustice and oppression of military,” said Mohamed Montasser in a statement posted on Facebook.

The ministry of interior however denied those claims saying that the six “terrorists” were from a militant cell affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood who died in violent clashes with the security forces, Egyptian newspaper Alyoum al-Sabi’ quoted a security source from the ministry as saying.

“After an exchange of fire, the police managed to control the situation and the six men were killed as a result,” the unnamed source said.

According to eyewitness, 30 armoured vehicles belonging to ministry of interior had raided the southern village in the late afternoon of Thursday and instantly starting firing ammunition at targets, reported Alarby al-Jadid news website. 

The names of the victims according to the website are: Abdel Aziz Murad, Abdel Fatah Abdel Naser, Rabie Khurad, Abdel Nasser Alwani, Abdel Aziz Heiba and Abdel Salam Hatita.

While all six men have been confirmed as Muslim Brotherhood members, it has yet to be confirmed whether Abdel Naser is a member of the Brotherhood’s guidance council.

Grizzly photos of the victims published online showed their bodies maimed and limbs cut off, which observers said were evidence of torture. 

The reports follow a similar incident on 1 July where 9 to 13 members of the Brotherhood were killed by Egyptian security forces in a flat in Cairo’s Sixth of October area.

While security officials called the Brotherhood members “armed militants” who were hiding in a den, the group said that the men were well-known lawyers and belonged to a legal team that represented imprisoned MB supporters.

Among those killed was former member of parliament Nasser al-Hafi and Brotherhood leader Abdel Fatah Mohamed Ibrahim.

Human Rights First, a US-based human rights group called for investigation into the deaths immediately after the incident, while Human Rights Watch said on Friday the killing of the Muslim Brotherhood members in July by Egyptian security forces may have been extrajudicial executions.

The New-York based watchdog released a report that included testimonies from 11 relatives and witnesses to the incident who accused the security forces of torturing and killing the men.