CAIRO — Security forces backed by armored vehicles and helicopters on Monday stormed a town south of Cairo that had been held for over two months by militants loyal to the ousted president Mohamed Morsi. The pre-dawn operation to retake Dalga in Minya province underlined the resolve of the military-backed government to go after militants behind a wave of violence in several parts of the country following the ouster of Morsi in a popularly backed July 3 military coup. Minya in particular suffered a collapse of security, with militants torching and looting courthouses, churches, local government houses and police stations. Army troops are also going after militants in the strategic Sinai Peninsula where attacks on security forces have grown more frequent, and deadlier, since Morsi's ouster. Dalga, some 300 kilometers (190 miles) south of Cairo, attracted nationwide attention because militants there threw the local police force out and took over the town after Morsi's ouster. Many of Dalga's minority Christians, about 20,000 of the town's 120,000 residents, have been paying militants for their protection. One of two churches torched by the militants in August is thought to be 1,600 years old. Remains of revered clerics buried in the church were disturbed and scattered around and ancient icons were taken away. Local activists Adel Shafiq in Dalga and Ezzat Ibrahim in nearby Malawi said a joint force of army and police rolled into Dalga before dawn on Monday. They said there were about 10 minutes of intense gunfire, followed by sporadic bursts of heavy fire as government forces began house-to-house searches to arrest militants. A total of 88 suspected militants were arrested out of a list of 312 wanted men, according to security officials in Minya. Two army helicopters were flying low over the town as forces sealed off all entrances and ordered residents to stay indoors, according to the activists and security officials. The officials said around 11 people were injured by birdshot or treated for tear gas inhalation during the clashes. – AP
