Egypt Holds Key Brotherhood Preacher, Spokesman

Egyptian forces overnight arrested two more Muslim Brotherhood officials, a top preacher and a spokesman for the group, military and security sources told Agence France Presse on Wednesday.

Preacher Safwat Hegazy was arrested close to Egypt's border with Libya in the west of the country, a military source said.

Hegazy had been on the run after a warrant was issued for his arrest following last month's ouster of president Mohammed Morsi, a Brotherhood member.

Mourad Ali, a spokesman for the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party, was "arrested at Cairo airport as he tried to leave for Italy," a security source said.

An airport source said Ali, whose name figured on a no-fly list, had "shaved his beard and was wearing casual clothes."

The latest arrests came after Brotherhood supreme guide Mohamed Badie was detained on Tuesday morning.

In July, authorities issued some 300 detention orders and arrest warrants against members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Dozens of their members have been rounded up since last week and hundreds killed in the violent dispersal of pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo.