Egyptian Army sacks radicals

Press, 20 October 1981, Page 8

Egyptian Army sacks radicals

NZPA-Reuter Cairo Egypt’s Defence Minister said yesterday that 134 officers and men had been dismissed in a purge of the armed forces since President Anwar Sadat's assassination. The Minister (LieutenantGeneral Abdel Halim AbuGhazala) also dropped the first official hint of a possibility of wider involvement in the killing of Mr Sadat by four uniformed men nearly two weeks ago. He did not go into details. But he told the. Government weekly newspaper “Mayo” that the four assassins who leapt from a lorry and opened fire as Mr Sadat took the salute at a military parade had been handed over to the military prosecutor. And so, he said, had "all those who have any connection with the case.”

The newspaper, journal s of the governing National Democratic Party, quoted General Abu-Ghazala as saying that 30 officers and 104 non-commissioned officers and soldiers had been dismissed for “extremist religious affiliations.”

He said none of them had any connection with the killing of Mr Sadat, adding that the armed forces should remain free of any fanaticism. General Abu-Ghazala said

military prosecutors were probing three aspects of the Sadat killing — the crime itself, a breakdown in security at the military parade, and an investigation in the armed forces to find out how the four-man squad obtained their weapons. The general’s announcement of the army purge coincided with an Interior Ministry report of the arrest of 230 members of a Muslim fundamentalist organisation accused of having plotted to kill key political figures. “Mayo” said the organisation planned to stage a “Kho-meini-style revolution” in Egypt and form revolutionary committees consisting of militias.

The newspaper said 59 guns, 16 hand-grenades and 25 kilograms of explosives and huge sums of money in foreign and local currencies had been seized from members of the organisation. Officials also found documents showing plans to attack police stations throughout the country; The Ministry statement did not name the organisation. But “Mayo” said those under arrest belonged to Takfir Wai Hejira (Repentance and Holy Flight), a Right-wing group which has been linked with the killing of Mr Sadat.