Sudan Extradites Wanted Takfiri Leader to Egypt

Egyptian police special forces. (Getty Images)
Egyptian police special forces. (Getty Images)
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Sudan Extradites Wanted Takfiri Leader to Egypt

Egyptian police special forces. (Getty Images)
Egyptian police special forces. (Getty Images)

An Egyptian security source revealed that Cairo is waiting for the arrival of a wanted fugitive takfiri leader extradited from Sudan named Madin Ibrahim Mohamed Hassanein.

The leader had fled to Sudan after being convicted of killings and violence against police officers in Egypt.

“Hassanein arrived at Khartoum airport last night ahead of his deportation to Cairo, and it is only a matter of time before he arrives to Egypt,” said the security source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“There is full coordination between Egyptian and Sudanese security, and it will be followed by the extradition of other wanted criminals to Egypt,” he added.

Hassanein, according to Islamist movements researcher Amro Abdulmoneim, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2013.

In the case known as “Asharqiyya unrest,” Hassanein was tried alongside 16 other fugitives for killing police officers and incitement against public order.

According to Abdulmoneim, Hassanein is also an ex-affiliate of a takfiri network founded by Shawqi al-Sheikh in the Faiyum province, southwest of Cairo.

“Hassanein encouraged others to kill police and army officers in his village in Sharqia governorate (Egypt Delta) after Hosni Mubarak stepped down from power in 2011,” he said.

“He established a terror organization called Ansar al-Sharia in al-Sharqia, formed cells in the following governorates: Beni Suef, Giza and Faiyum, and he shared ties to the terrorist Adel Habara,” Abdulmoneim added.

Egyptian authorities had executed Habara in December 2016 after he was convicted of the murder of 25 soldiers in the north Sinai province in August 2013.

“Hassanein had fled to Sudan, along with other convicts,” Abdulmoneim noted, adding that there are “approximately 70 Muslim Brotherhood youth fugitives in Sudan.”



Israeli Troops Battle Palestinian Fighters in Gaza City of Khan Younis

 Smoke rises following Israeli strikes during an Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes during an Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli Troops Battle Palestinian Fighters in Gaza City of Khan Younis

 Smoke rises following Israeli strikes during an Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes during an Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)

Israeli troops battled Palestinian fighters in Khan Younis in southern Gaza and destroyed tunnels and other infrastructure, as they sought to suppress small militant units that have continued to hit troops with mortar fire, the military said on Friday.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said troops had killed around 100 Palestinian fighters since Israeli troops began their latest operation in Khan Younis on Monday, which continued as pressure mounted for a deal to halt the fighting.

It said seven small units that had been firing mortars at the troops were hit in an air strike, while further south, in Rafah, four fighters were also killed in air strikes.

The Islamic Jihad armed wing said it fired rockets toward the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon and other Israeli towns near Gaza. No casualties were reported, the Israeli ambulance service said.

The continued fighting, more than nine months since the start of Israel's invasion of Gaza following the Oct. 7 attack, underlined the difficulty the IDF has had in eliminating fighters who have reverted to a form of guerrilla warfare in the ruins of the coastal strip.

A Telegram channel operated by the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two main militant groups in Gaza, said fighters had been waging fierce battles with Israeli troops east of Khan Younis with machine guns, mortars and anti-tank weapons.

Medics said at least six Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes in eastern Khan Younis.

US PRESSURE

US President Joe Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for president, both urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a proposed ceasefire deal as soon as possible.

However there has been no clear sign of movement in talks to end the fighting and bring home some 115 Israeli and foreign hostages still being held in Gaza. Public statements from Israel and Hamas appear to indicate that serious differences remain between the two sides.

Local residents contacted by messenger app, said Israeli tanks had pushed into three towns to the east of Khan Younis, Bani Suhaila, Al-Zanna and Al-Karara and blew up several houses in some residential districts.

The military said air force jets hit around 45 targets, including tunnels and two launch pads from which rockets were fired into Beersheba in southern Israel.

Even while the fighting continued around Khan Younis and Rafah in the south, in the northern part of the enclave, Israeli tanks pushed into the Tel Al-Hawa suburb west of Gaza city, residents said.

A Hamas Telegram channel said fighters targeted an Israeli tank in Tal Al-Hawa and shot an Israeli soldier.

Medics said two Palestinians were also killed in an air strike in western Gaza city.

More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting in Gaza, according to local health authorities, who do not distinguish between fighters and non-combatants.

Israeli officials estimate that some 14,000 fighters from armed groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have been killed or taken prisoner, out of a force they estimated to number more than 25,000 at the start of the war.