CAIRO — Egyptian security forces were hunting for supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood on Friday after retaking control of a town near Cairo in a crackdown on Islamists. State television and newspapers said government forces had taken control of the town of Kerdasa but security sources said the area had not yet been stabilized. On Thursday, army and police forces stormed Kerdasa where Islamist sympathies run deep and hostility to the authorities has grown since the army overthrew and imprisoned Morsi on July 3. So far 85 people have been arrested and security forces are scanning the area. State television said dozens of weapons including rocket-propelled grenades and heavy rifles were seized in the operation. Militants have increased attacks since Morsi's downfall, targeting security forces in the Sinai near Israel on an almost daily basis and carrying out operations elsewhere, including a failed suicide bombing attack on the interior minister in Cairo. The violence has revived memories of the 1990s when the state faced an Islamist insurgency that hurt tourism, one of the pillars of the economy. Egypt's finances have suffered since the military toppled Morsi following mass protests against his rule. The Kerdasa police station was set on fire after it was hit with rocket-propelled grenades on Aug. 14, the day that police stormed pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo, killing hundreds of his supporters. — Reuters
