Egyptian authorities escalated their crackdown on deposed President Mohamed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood by arresting the Islamist organization's top leader early Tuesday morning. Egyptian Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim confirmed Badie's detention. Mohamed Badie, 70, was detained at a residential apartment in Nasr City in northeast Cairo "after information came to the security apparatus locating his place of hiding," according to Egypt state news agency reported, which Ibrahim later confirmed in a statement to Al Masry Al Youm. The Interior Ministry's Facebook page showed a picture of Badie, with dark rings under his eyes, sitting in a car between two men in black body armor, with a caption confirming his arrest. "Carrying out the decisions of the public prosecutor to arrest and bring forward the 'general guide' of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie, and through collected information and observation of movements, it was possible for the criminal search apparatus under the direction of Cairo's security (services) to arrest him," according to the caption. Badie was charged in July with inciting the murder of protesters. Together with his two deputies, he is due to stand trial on Aug. 25. The brotherhood announced that it would install deputy supreme guide Mahmoud Ezzat as the group's leader until the authorities agreed to release Badie. Meanwhile an Al Jazeera bureau chief was shot dead when police fired on his vehicle. An Egyptian journalist for Al-Gomhuriya was also wounded when police opened fire on the car, thinking the driver was trying to evade a security checkpoint enforcing curfew, though journalists are exempt from the dawn-to-dusk restrictions. Egypt was reeling on Tuesday from the recent spike in violence as images from a brutal attack in the restive Sinai Peninsula that resulted in the deaths of 25 border police officers began circulating online. The officers -- off-duty and in civilian clothing -- were killed when a group of armed Islamists attacked their convoy of two minibuses traveling the main highway in northern Sinai west of Rafah. Officials in the Egyptian Interior Ministry said six gunmen had opened fire with RPG rockets and mortar grenades on the two minibuses, inflicting serious damage on both of them. After the vehicles rolled to a stop, the gunmen rounded up several police officers, led them outside and killed them execution-style. "From testimonies we've gathered, it appears that ten officers were killed when the gunmen fired RPGs and mortar rounds. At least ten more who were lightly wounded were forced to lie on the ground and were executed," a senior Egyptian official said. "The terrorists also verified the deaths of five officers who were critically wounded. We also know about three officers who successfully escaped and we'll hear their version of what happened in this criminal attack." According to the senior official, who declined to give his name, the Egyptian intelligence services believe the terrorists may have amassed inside information that helped them carry out the deadly attack. Several high-ranking Egyptian officers met in Sinai for an emergency discussion over what the army should do to control the problematic region, deciding to boost military operations against terrorist operatives. An Egyptian defense official blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for the violent attack, accusing mid-ranking Muslim Brotherhood officials of working together with terrorist groups, abetting attacks against the army in attempts to sow discord. Islamists implicitly supported the claim by calling the attack revenge for the hundreds of deaths of Muslim Brotherhood activists over the past few weeks. Meanwhile, Palestinian terrorist group the Popular Resistance Committees condemned the killing of Egyptian police officers, accusing Israel of being behind the crime to "increase division and polarization among Egyptian people," according to British daily The Guardian. Egyptian security forces continued their pursuit of the armed men on Tuesday after they fled toward the Jabal al-Halal region in northern Sinai, which Islamic terrorists in Sinai use as a refuge. Sky News' Arabic news channel reported that the army has declared half the peninsula a "closed military zone," imposing a curfew between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. in various areas in northern Sinai. Authorities also closed the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt until further notice.
According to Al Jazeera, Badie was arrested along brotherhood official Hassan Malek and Yousef Talaat, the spokesperson for the "National Coalition for the Defense of Shariah," which is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.
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Egyptian authorities arrest Muslim Brotherhood top leader
Mohamed Badie detained at a residential apartment in northeast Cairo after Egyptian security locate his "place of hiding" • Authorities believe Badie, the "'general guide' of the Muslim Brotherhood,'" incited violence against protesters.