Egypt has ordered the detention of a Libyan suspected of involvement in an October shootout between police and militants in Egypt's Western Desert, which left 16 policemen dead, Egypt’s Ahram Online reported Friday (November 17th).
Prosecutor-general Nabil Sadek on Friday ordered that Abdel Rahim Mohamed Abdullah al-Mismari and 14 other defendants be detained for 15 days pending investigations of their involvement in the attack in Bahariya Oasis.
Al-Mismari is being investigated on charges of premeditated murder of policemen, possession of unlicensed weapons and explosives, and joining a terror organisation, as well as being a member of an outlawed group that targets police and army and their institutions.
He was apprehended by Egyptian forces in the area a week after the attack.
Al-Mismari appeared on private Egyptian news channel Al-Hayat on Thursday, where he said he had adopted an al-Qaeda-based ideology.
On Thursday, the Egyptian interior ministry released details about the suspect.
According to the statement, the 25-year-old from Libya's Derna is part of a terrorist organisation based in that country, which was led by Egyptian militant Emad al-Din Abdel-Hamid, killed during army strikes after the October attack.
