Egyptian security sources said that 8 people have been arrested after the killing and dragging of four Egyptians Shiites in a village south of Cairo, amid an atmosphere of sectarian incitement by Salafist leaders in the country.
Egyptian security sources said that 8 people have been arrested after the killing and dragging of four Egyptians Shiites in a village south of Cairo, amid an atmosphere of sectarian incitement by Salafist leaders in the country.
In remarks broadcast by the Middle East News Agency, a security official said "Our apparatuses have intensified efforts and found the rest of the perpetrators who have fled their homes."
Amid an atmosphere dominated by tension and anger, funerals of the four martyrs have been organized on Monday. Some mourners accused the security forces of not making any effort on Sunday to stop the heinous massacre.
For his part, the deputy director of the Giza Security, Maj. Gen. Abdul Azim Nasreddine claimed for the Agence France Presse that his forces tried to intervene but the mass crowd of families and the narrow streets prevented their progress to disperse the crowds.
“While sitting with my troops outside the village, the residents attacked us carrying knives and forced us to withdraw," he said.
“The police succeeded in getting 25 Shiite men from the besieged house, which reduced the number of victims," he added.
On Sunday, four Egyptian Shiite Muslims were killed when they were attacked by a hostile mob in Zawiyat Abu Muslim village in Abu Nomros in the Giza province.
A house where the Shiite residents were celebrating the birthday anniversary of Imam Mahdi (as) was stormed by hundreds of attackers after throwing molotov cocktails at the house. They dragged the Shiites out and beated them, killing four including senior cleric Sheikh Hasan Shahata and his two brothers.
The attack comes following weeks of toxic anti-Shiite rhetoric in the media and from extremist religious leaders.