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Communication cut with tense south Egypt province

By AP - Apr 08,2014 - Last updated at Apr 08,2014

CAIRO — Telephone and Internet networks were briefly shut down to Egypt’s southern province of Aswan for several hours, as authorities moved to try to end a bloody tribal feud that killed 26 people over the past days, security officials and residents said Tuesday.

The officials said the shutdown was part of a plan aimed at preventing contacts while security forces prepare operations to disarm the two feuding sides, an Arab clan and a Nubian family.

Tribal leaders engaged in mediation talks with government officials have complained that contacts with the media and through Internet and mobile phones have fuelled the tension in the past days by spreading news about the carnage, the officials said.

Security forces have used such communications shutdowns repeatedly in the Sinai Peninsula during their offensive against Islamic militants there.

The state news agency MENA quoted communications company officials as saying a technical failure caused the cut, without elaborating. It said there was a blanket communications cut in Aswan for hours, disrupting banks, government offices, and offices issuing plane and train tickets.

The fighting in Aswan province, about 880 kilometres, from the capital, erupted Friday. It reportedly began after a fight last week between school students drew in adults, sparking the clashes that turned deadly Friday. Police said the fight was over the harassment of a girl. Witnesses said offensive graffiti on the school walls taunting the Nubian family and the Arab clan with racial slurs fuelled the violence.

The state news agency MENA said the toll from three days of fighting rose to 26 when one person died from extensive burns suffered earlier.

One of the officials said the fighting, which began Friday, had become a “national security issue”. The previous evening, the interim president met with the National Security Council, a body of top security officials, to come up with a plan to confront the violence.

One of the officials said severing communications aimed to give cover for troops during searches for weapons and suspects. The shutdown lasted about three hours, during which attempts to reach Aswan residents by phone were unsuccessful. By the afternoon, communications at least partially returned. But it was not clear what operations had been carried out.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorised to speak to reporters.

An Associated Press photographer in Aswan said officers said an operation was underway but didn’t elaborate. A joint police and military force was seen searching at least one home in the neighbourhood where most of the killing took place, but it was not clear if they were looking for suspects or weapons.

The communication cut down also came soon after the country’s chief prosecutor visited the area from Cairo. Prosecutor Hisham Barakat toured the area were the fighting took place, where several homes were torched, and where most of the 26, mostly from the Arab clan, were killed.

Security officials say members of the impoverished Arab clan are involved in arms and drugs smuggling. The fight took on a political overtone when the Arab clan accused the ethnic Nubians of supporting the military, while the Nubians say the Arabs back ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and are protected by officials loyal to longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Local leaders say police were mostly absent from the streets, causing the violence to spread. The governor appealed for the military to deploy troops there.

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