Egypt police kill two suspects in judge house attack

The Egyptian Interior Ministry said Monday that Egyptian police have killed suspects in an attack last week on a judge’s home in a Cairo suburb.

The ministry said in a statement that investigators found the location of the “two [men] primarily accused” in the incident and a force was commissioned from the Homeland Security department and the Central Security Forces to ambush the suspects’ “hideout” in Helwan.

According to the statement, the suspects fired at the police “who exchanged fire in return” and killed them. 

“An automatic rifle and a pistol was found beside them,” the statement read.

The dead men were identified as Ahmed Hassan Abd El-Latif, 32, an engineer at Helwan’s health department, and Saeed Ahmed El-Sayed, 33. The statement claimed they were members of the banned-Muslim Brotherhood group.

On 10 May, unidentified assailants set off three improvised bombs near judge Moataz Khafagi’s house in Helwan, damaging cars and injuring a passerby.

The  judge and his family were not harmed.

Since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, Khafagi has presided over several criminal cases against Islamists who were accused of committing acts of murder or terror. He has since sentenced dozens of defendants either to death or to long prison terms, including the Brotherhood’s supreme guide.

Anti-government militants have attacked judges and prosecutors on more than one occasion.

On Saturday, three judges and their driver were killed when gunmen opened fire on their vehicle in the North Sinai city of Arish.