![Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi visits the recently freed police officer Mohammed al-Hayes at a military hospital. [Photo courtesy of Egypt's Interior Ministry]](/cnmi_am/images/2017/11/01/10213-Egypt-hospital-Sisi-700_496.webp)
Egyptian security forces on Tuesday (October 31st) freed a police officer who was kidnapped during the deadly shootout earlier this month between policemen and extremists in Egypt’s Western Desert, Egypt's armed forces said in a statement.
Police officer Mohammed al-Hayes was rescued in an operation by security forces near the Wahat highway where a number of militants were killed.
Al-Hayes has been taken to a military hospital for treatment, the statement said.
The officer had gone missing during the October 20th incident, which killed 16 policemen as they executed a raid on a terrorist hideout in al-Wahat al-Bahriya, in the desert south-west of Giza.
Joint special operations and police forces freed the kidnapped officer before the militants were able to take him across the border, security sources told Al-Mashareq.
Special forces launched a ground attack on the militants' hideout near the Libya border, they said, and freed al-Hayes after clashing with the militants and killing them.
Simultaneously, the Egyptian air force conducted an airstrike on a convoy of three four-wheel drive vehicles loaded with weapons in the Western Desert, near the border.
Al-Hayes' father, Alaa al-Hayes, told Al-Mashareq he has received a phone call from his son telling him he was fine and that he has arrived at al-Galaa military hospital for treatment.
As soon as he heard his son’s voice, he said, "life returned to my heart".
Raising police morale
The army located the extremists responsible for the al-Wahat attack thanks to intelligence co-operation between the General Intelligence, Military Intelligence and National Security, said military expert Maj. Gen. Galal Abdel-Hadi.
"The operation was launched 11 days after that attack in order to ensure the safety of the kidnapped officer," he told Al-Mashareq.
Egyptian forces were keen to return Capt. al-Hayes alive, he said.
"The takfirists were on their way to the Libya border to escape from the Egyptian forces," he said, adding that at least 20 extremists were killed in the airstrikes and ground operation.
"Bringing al-Hayes back alive and killing the elements that carried out al-Wahat attack will raise the morale of the Egyptian police and give them a psychological boost in their war on terror," he said.
