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WORLD
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Sunday, December 30, 2018 7C
Egypt says its security forces killed 40 militants
Security forces stand near a tourist bus after a roadside bomb in an area
near the Giza Pyramids in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Dec. 28.
BY HAMZA HENDAWI
Associated Press
CAIRO — Egypt said Saturday
its security forces have killed 40
militants in raids on their hide
outs in the Sinai Peninsula and the
Greater Cairo area, just hours after
a roadside bomb targeted a tour
ist bus in the capital, killing three
Vietnamese tourists and their
Egyptian guide.
In a Saturday statement, the
Interior Ministry, which oversees
the police, said 10 of the militants
were killed when the security
forces stormed their hideout in
el-Arish, a coastal city in the tur
bulent north of Sinai, epicenter
of a long-running insurgency by
Islamists.
Another 14 were killed in the
Cairo suburb of October 6 and 16
more in a housing project on a
highway heading west from Cairo.
The statement said the militants
were preparing for attacks on gov
ernment and tourism facilities,
army and police personnel, as well
as Christian churches.
The ministry also released
a series of images purportedly
depicting some of the militants
killed in the raids, with assault
rifles seen next to their bloodied
bodies.
NARIMAN EL-M0FTYI Associated Press
The statement did not say when
the raids took place, suggesting
that the timing of its release was
designed at least in part to show
that security forces were scoring
successes against militants across
the country and staunch potential
criticism of their perceived failure
to protect tourists.
The area where the attack took
place — Marioutiyah, near the
famed Giza Pyramids — has seen
a series of attacks over the past two
years, mostly targeting the police.
It is also widely suspected of being
home to jihadist cells loyal to the
Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist
group removed from power by the
military in 2013 after its divisive
rule lasted one year.
Friday night’s attack took place
as Egypt’s vital tourism industry
was showing encouraging signs
of recovery after years in the dol
drums because of the political tur
moil and violence that followed a
2011 uprising that toppled an auto
cratic president. The revival of the
labor-intensive sector has been
warmly welcomed in a country
whose economy is struggling to find
its footing, with a series of ambi
tious reforms unleashing wave
after wave of steep price rises.
The attack is also likely to
prompt authorities to further
tighten security around tourists
and the facilities they frequent —
hotels, museums, antiquity sites
and bazaars — during the busy
holiday season.
Security measures already
cause long delays at the country’s
airports and antiquity sites. Tourist
buses routinely get a police escort
and Egyptians are generally sub
jected to even more stringent secu
rity checks at tourist facilities.
There will likely be stepped up
security measures for churches
and associated facilities ahead of
the New Year’s Eve celebrations
and next month’s Christmas of the
Coptic Orthodox Church, the domi
nant denomination among Egypt’s
estimated 10 million Christians.
Egypt has battled Islamic
militants for years in the Sinai
Peninsula in an insurgency that
has occasionally spilled over to
the mainland, striking minority
Christians or tourists. However,
Friday’s attack was the first to tar
get foreign tourists in almost two
years.
BANGU\DESH
Opposition leader expects
election win if vote is fair
FRANCE
Yellow vest protesters target media
Associated Press
BY JULHAS ALAM
AND EMILY SCHMALL
Associated Press
DHAKA, Bangladesh —
When the founding leader
of Bangladesh, father of cur
rent Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina, was assas
sinated in 1975 after
helping achieve
independence from
Pakistan, then-For-
eign Minister Kamal
Hossain abandoned
a visit in Europe to
rush to her side.
Now Hossain, 82,
is helming a popular
opposition against Hasina
that aims to prevent his for
mer Awami League party
from maintaining its hold on
Bangladesh in Sunday’s par
liamentary elections.
“There should be a very
decisive victory for the oppo
sition if it’s free and fair,”
Hossain said in an interview
Saturday with The Associ
ated Press. “If there is some
kind of a decision in favor of
the present government, I
can assure you that it will not
be a free and fair election.”
A respected Oxford-
educated lawyer, Hossain
emerged as an
improbable opposi
tion leader after a
court disqualified
Hasina’s chief rival,
former Prime Min
ister Khaleda Zia,
because she is serv
ing a 17-year sen
tence for corruption.
Although Zia is
in solitary confine
ment in a colonial-era jail,
she is not alone: More than
15,000 opposition party activ
ists and critics have been
arrested since November,
the vice chairman of Zia’s
Bangladesh Nationalist Party
said. At least nine have been
killed in campaign-related
skirmishes, the party said.
“The urge for power can
make someone who’s human
into something less than
human,” Hossain said.
Hossain supported Hasina
as part of a grand coalition
in 2008 elections, when the
Awami League and its allies
secured 270 of the 300 seats
in Bangladesh’s Parliament.
But in 2014, Zia and the
BNP boycotted the polls,
leaving more than half of
the parliamentary seats
uncontested. Voter turnout
in the country was a dismal
22 percent, and the Awami
League’s landslide victory
was met with violent protests
that left at least 22 dead.
Hossain is among those
who see that election as
illegitimate. He said the gov
ernment has been charac
terized by “unprecedented
corruption” and “political
patronage of the crudest
kind.” He said Hasina has
shown increasing authoritar
ian tendencies.
Yellow vest protesters
marched on the headquar
ters of leading French
broadcasters Saturday, as
small groups turned out in
Paris and around France
despite waning momentum
for their movement.
Hundreds of demonstra
tors gathered at the central
offices of television network
BFM and state-run France
Televisions. Some protest
ers hurled stones during
scattered skirmishes with
riot police firing tear gas.
Some members of the yel
low vest movement accuse
French news media of
favoring President Emman
uel Macron’s government
and big business and mini
mizing the protests — even
though the demonstrations
have been the leading news
story in France since they
kicked off Nov. 17.
Dozens of protesters
twice tried to march on
the elegant, tourist-filled
Champs-Elysees, the site of
repeated clashes between
police and demonstrators
in recent weeks. Blue police
car lights flashed along the
avenue glittering with red
holiday decorations.
Another small group of
yellow vest demonstrators
gathered near the Eiffel
Tower, where police offi
cers arrested several. But
by nightfall, tourists and
couples were back at adja
cent Trocadero plaza to
enjoy views of the tower.
Both police and protest
ers appeared to be out in
much smaller numbers
than previous weekends.
The holiday season and
chill may have put a damper
on Saturday’s turnout, along
with concessions by Macron
to calm the movement after
rioting nearly reached his
presidential palace earlier
this month.
Despite Macron’s offers
of tax relief and other aid,
many people remain frus
trated with his pro-business
leadership and continue to
stage roadblocks at round
abouts around the country.
Peaceful gatherings were
held Saturday in cities from
Marseille on the Mediter
ranean to Albertville in
the Alps and Rouen in Nor
mandy. Protesters contin
ued blocking roundabouts in
several sites, tangling traffic
and letting just a few drivers
through at a time, on a busy
weekend of holiday travel.
They brandished French
flags and placards with a
range of demands.
Protests are expected on
the Champs-Elysees on New
Year’s Eve, when Paris puts
on a light show that attracts
large crowds of spectators.
Paris police plan extra secu
rity for the event, which
sometimes degenerates into
violence after midnight.
The yellow vest move
ment was launched to
express anger over fuel
tax hikes hurting working
people who commute by
car, but grew to encom
pass broader anger over
Macron’s economic poli
cies. It’s named after the
fluorescent protective gear
French motorists must
keep in their cars.
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