At least ten Muslim Brotherhood members have been arrested within the last 24 hours as a crackdown by military-backed authorities on the Islamist group continues, security sources said Tuesday.
In the Fayoum province south of Cairo, security forces arrested four provincial leaders of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, a security source said.
Among those arrested was Madi Arafa, secretary-general of Egypt's physical therapists' syndicate.
Meanwhile, leading Brotherhood member Zaki Fouad Anani was arrested in the canal city of Port Said near a public square which has recently been the site of Brotherhood-led demonstrations calling for the reinstatement of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.
Two more Brotherhood leaders were arrested in the Nile Delta city of Damietta, eyewitnesses said.
In the southern Beni Sueif province, security agencies said they had arrested 11 wanted suspects, including two Brotherhood leaders. They face charges of vandalism and killing policemen, a security source said.
Further south, former Brotherhood lawmaker Mahmoud Yousef was picked up from his home in the city of Qena.
Egyptian authorities have unleashed a massive crackdown on the Islamist group and its leaders since the violent August 14 dispersal of two pro-Morsi sit-ins, in which hundreds of demonstrators were killed.
Since then security forces have rounded up hundreds of the group's senior and mid-ranking members, topped by Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie and deputies Khairat al-Shater and Rashad Bayoumi.
englishnews@aa.com.tr