Interior Minister Magdi Abdel-Ghaffar (Photo:Ahram)
A policeman and three suspected supporters of the banned Muslim Brotherhood died early Saturday after a police raid to arrest individuals wanted on criminal charges, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.
Clashes erupted between alleged Brotherhood members and security forces as soon as police personnel entered Basarta village, near the Egyptian city of Damietta.
The head of Damietta's Security Directorate, Hassan El-Bardissy, told Aswat Masriya that as soon as police officers arrived in the village they were shot at by the alleged Brotherhood members.
The police fired back, El-Bardissy said, and the resulting clashes left four people dead.
A policeman was killed and six people were injured in another police raid on Wednesday in the same village.
Basarta is considered to be a hotspot of Muslim Brotherhood support, with many marches in support of the group starting in the village before heading into Damietta.
The Brotherhood was declared a terrorist group by the government in 2013, and membership or support for the group criminalised.
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