GRAPHIC WARNING: Contains images which some viewers may find disturbing.
Egyptian security forces backed by armored fighting vehicles and helicopters stormed a town known to be an Islamist stronghold outside of Cairo near the Great Pyramids on Thursday, coming under barrages of fire from gunmen on rooftops as they searched door to door for militants.
A police general fell in the first moments of the battle at around 6 a.m. Gen. Nabil Farrag had just given a pep talk to his men on the street, preparing them to roll into the town of Kerdasa, when they came under a hail of gunfire.
Army soldiers and policemen ducked for cover behind armored vehicles and walls. Farrag fell with a bullet wound in his right side, getting past the body armor he was wearing. He lay in the street for nearly 15 minutes, blood soaking through his white uniform, until his men could reach him and carry him into a sedan to take him to a hospital.
The Interior Ministry, which is in charge of the police, later announced Farrag's death. Read the full story.
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