CAIRO (AP) Egyptian 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 Islamist president, swiftly taking control despite some resistance from gunmen.
The pre-dawn operation to retake Dalga in Minya province highlighted the resolve of the military-backed government to pursue Islamic militants behind a wave of violence in several parts of the country following the ouster of Mohammed 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 buildings 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 out the local police force and took over the town after Morsi's ouster. Supporters of the deposed president have been touting Dalga as a place where opposition to the coup is universal. The pro-government media, however, has been urging authorities to assert its authority and rid the town of "terrorists."
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 exhumed and scattered and ancient icons were taken away. Holes were also dug into church grounds by people seeking buried treasure.