Clashes as Egypt security forces swoop on militants

CAIRO: Clashes in which a senior police officer was killed erupted on Thursday as Egyptian security forces stormed the village of Kerdassah near Cairo in the latest crackdown on militants, officials said.

Military vehicles rolled into the village on the edge of the capital just after dawn in search of "terrorists", a security official said.

"A heavy exchange of gunfire ensued between the security forces and the terrorists," killing Giza deputy security chief General Nabil Farrah, the official said.

Television footage showed thick teargas hanging over the rural patch near the Giza pyramids, as army and police vehicles moved around deserted parts of Kerdassah.

Authorities slapped a daytime curfew on the village as they went door to door in search of 140 wanted men, including those behind the Kerdassah "massacre" in which 11 policemen were killed.

On August 14, just hours after authorities launched a crackdown on two protest camps in Cairo of supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, 11 policemen were found dead at the Kerdassah police station.

Several other police stations near the village were also torched.

Thursday's operation "is to clear the village of terrorist elements," the security official said.

The operation was launched after a 3:00 am meeting of interior ministry officials.

Egyptian police and troops have launched a sustained campaign against militants and Islamists since the army's ouster of Morsi on July 3.

The operation in Kerdassah comes after a similar crackdown was launched in the town of Delga in central Egypt on Monday.