950828

Egyptian security

forces held 16

CAIRO: Egyptian security forces arrested 16 suspected members of a new Muslim militant group in northern Egypt, the official Al-Ahram newspaper said on Monday.

Quoting unnamed security officials, it said the 26-member group based in the northern city of Simbilaween was linked to Gama'a al-Islamiya (Islamic Group), which fights to overthrow the government and set up a strict Islamic state.

One of those arrested was the group's leader Othman Awad Hegazy, an assistant to the Gama'a leader Talaat Yassin Hammam who was shot dead by police last year, it said.

Hegazy had been trying to link his group with the military wing of the Gama'a in the militant hotbed of Minya in the south, the paper added. Ten members of the group remained at large.

The paper said police had also arrested six people in the southern province of Assiut charged with selling arms and explosives worth 16,000 pounds ($4,700) to Hegazy's group.

More than 800 policemen, militants and civilians have been killed since the Gama'a began its armed struggle in 1992.-Reuter