Egyptian police killed in shootout in Cairo

An Egyptian police has been killed allegedly by supporters of deposed president, Mohamed Morsi, in a gun battle on the southern outskirts of Egypt’s capital, Cairo.

Egypt’s Interior Ministry said in a statement that the police was gunned down on Monday during an operation aimed at finding five wanted members of the Muslim Brotherhood which were “implicated in many violent acts and attacks on police cars and electricity transmission pylons.”

According to officials, the men were in a car when they opened fire on security forces and tried to escape as police moved in to arrest them.

Since the ouster of Morsi, Egypt’s first-democratically elected president, by the army in July 2013, his supporters have held near daily demonstrations. Such rallies have been met by a brutal crackdown on the part of security forces. More than 1,400 people have been reportedly killed in the crackdown.

Egyptian authorities have also rounded up thousands of Muslim Brotherhood’s supporters following the outer of Morsi. Hundreds have been handed lengthy jail terms and many sentenced to death in hasty trials.

In the latest round of convicting Morsi’s supporters, on June11, a criminal court in Cairo sentenced 25 activists in absentia to 15 years behind bars on charges of organizing and taking part in anti-government protests without a permit.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has recently expressed concern over the harsh jail sentences handed to the Egyptian activists.