Nine killed in ‘random’ shooting across 2 sites in Assiut, says MP

Nine people were killed and six were injured on Monday evening in two consecutive shootings in the Abnub region, Assiut. 

Essam al-Omda, the MP representing the area and a former police general who previously worked in Assiut, told Mada Masr that the perpetrator was Atef Salem, whom he said was a member of the Republican People’s Party, originally from an influential family in the Abnub region that owns around 50 feddans of agricultural land.

Omda also said the perpetrator had also been involved in a previous shooting several months ago.

According to an Interior Ministry statement issued on Monday, police received a report that “an individual driving a private car was randomly shooting at citizens at the Abnub bus station in Assiut.”

Omda told Mada Masr that there had been “two shootings, not one.” He explained that the first attack took place in the town of Abnub itself, close to the police station, killing five people. 

This attack was documented in a video circulating on social media. CCTV footage circulating online showed a minor collision between the attacker’s car and a motorcycle carrying two people. The perpetrator then got out of the vehicle, suddenly opening fire on the pair with an automatic rifle, killing them both instantly. He continued to shoot at the pair’s bodies for some time, before driving away. 

Omda, a Republican People’s Party MP, added that Salem then headed to his village, Bani Muhammadiyat, where he killed his cousin and three of his neighbours. He fled to a neighboring farm, where he was killed by security forces. 

The ministry also said security forces tracked the suspect to “a plot of farmland within the region,” where he was killed during “a fire exchange.” The attack left eight dead and five injured, according to the ministry’s statement.

Omda, who is also from Bani Muhammadiyat, said the attacker killed nine people and injured six. 

“The shooting was random,” said Omda. “The perpetrator did not distinguish between women or children, or between Christians and Muslims.”

He said none of the victims had had any disputes or quarrels with the killer. “The perpetrator was talking to them before suddenly pulling out a weapon and opening fire, with no altercation apparent nor any indication that he was about to do so,” he added, referring to the first two victims seen in the CCTV footage circulating online.   

According to the MP, those who knew the attacker said he had been using shabu (crystal methamphetamine), and that he was receiving treatment for drug-induced paranoia.

Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry said the perpetrator had been suffering from “psychological disturbances” and had been receiving treatment at a psychiatric hospital in Cairo.

Commenting on Salem’s party affiliation, Omda stressed that “the party is a place open to all, and it is possible that there could be someone crazy, or even an arms or drug dealer among its ranks.”

The MP noted that, in Ramadan, the perpetrator was involved in another shootout between his family and another family in the village of Al-Sawalim Al-Bahreya. The MP said that incident ended in reconciliation and that there were no victims.

Commenting on the prevalence of gun violence in Assiut, particularly over longstanding cycles of revenge killings between families, Omda said many people in the governorate own weapons and are accustomed to using them in daily life. “Here in Upper Egypt, there are people for whom weapons are more important than bread,” said Omda, who launched an initiative more than six months ago to encourage reconciliation between families.

Besides the proliferation of weapons, Upper Egypt has also witnessed a rise in crystal meth use in recent years. Grassroots attempts by local residents to confront the issue resulted in communal clashes in the Aswan governorate last year.

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المصدر: Mada Masr