Egypt cracks down on Muslim Brotherhood in Nile Delta city

Aug 2, 2008, 15:46 GMT

Cairo - Egyptian state security forces detained 10 leaders of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood Saturday in the Nile Delta city of Mansura, the movement said.

Most of the detainees are members of the Muslim Brotherhood's administrative office in Dakahlia governorate, of which Mansura is the capital, the movement said in a statement on its website.

The Egyptian government has banned the fundamentalist Islamic group, but paradoxically the Muslim Brotherhood is the most active political opposition movement in Egypt.

It also has five members in parliament, who ran as independents to circumvent the party's illegality.

In an attempt to curtail its rising power, the Egyptian authorities have in recent years systematically cracked down on the group's leadership.

They have prosecuted leaders in military tribunals and arrested thousands of its supporters.

Less than two weeks ago, 39 Muslim Brotherhood members were rounded up in the Nile Delta province of Kafr el-Sheikh, including three members of the movement's provincial leadership.