15 July 2017•Update: 15 July 2017
By Hussein Qabani
CAIRO
Egypt's embattled Muslim Brotherhood group has condemned two deadly attacks that left seven people dead, including two foreigners.
Gunmen opened fire on a police vehicle near Cairo on Friday, killing five policemen. Two German tourists were also stabbed to death in the Red Sea city of Hurghada.
In a statement on Saturday, the Brotherhood said that the bloodshed was forbidden.
It criticized failure of Egyptian authorities to take enough measures to secure facilities and foreign tourists in the country.
Once Egypt's largest Islamist movement, the Brotherhood has been the target of a harsh security crackdown since 2013 when the military deposed Mohamed Morsi, the country's first freely elected president.
Meanwhile, the Brotherhood decried an Israeli move to close Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque following a shootout near the holy site that left five people dead.
Three Palestinians and two Israeli policemen were killed in an armed clash near Al-Aqsa compound on Friday. Following the attack, the Israeli authorities shut the mosque and cancelled the weekly Friday prayers.
Israel occupied east Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East War. It later annexed the city in 1980, claiming all of Jerusalem as the Jewish state’s "eternal" capital -- a move never recognized by the international community.
Sacred to Muslims, Jews, and Christians, Jerusalem is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which for Muslims represents the world's third-holiest site.
