Egypt: Brotherhood urges probe into leader’s killing

By Rabia al-Sokkary

CAIRO (AA) - Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood group has called for an international investigation into the killing of a senior group leader in a police raid.

Egyptian security forces shot dead Mohamed Kamal, a member of the Brotherhood’s Shura Council, the group’s highest decision-making body, and his aide during a police raid on their apartment south of Cairo late Monday.

“The Brotherhood calls for an international probe into liquidating symbols of national work and unarmed revolutionaries in cold blood and without trial,” Brotherhood spokesman Mohamed Montaser said in a Tuesday statement.

Egyptian authorities claim Kamal, 61, and his aide were killed in a shootout during the raid.

The authorities accuse Kamal of being the founder of the Brotherhood’s armed wing and blame him for a spate of attacks on security forces, including last year’s assassination of prosecutor-general Hisham Barakat.

Egypt has been roiled by turmoil since the military deposed Mohamed Morsi, the country’s first freely elected president, in a 2013 coup.

Ever since, Egyptian security forces have launched a harsh crackdown on the Brotherhood, killing hundreds and detaining thousands for allegedly inciting violence.