CAIRO, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- Egyptian police beefed up security in the southern region Sunday, a day after 21 members of the same family were killed in a vendetta.
Security sources told United Press International police were dispatched to the Sohag province where the village of Beit Allam witnessed a massive revenge killing Saturday. Security was beefed up in the village and surrounding areas to prevent a retaliatory act by the family of the victims.
Members of the Abdul Halim clan Saturday intercepted cars carrying 25 members of the Hanashat family and opened fire with their machine guns, killing 22 people -- 21 from the family -- and injuring three others.
They were on their way to attend a court hearing in the town of Sohag where a Hanashat was being tried for killing an Abdul Halim last April.
The sources said police were combing the rural and mountainous areas near the village in search of those suspected of carrying out the killings.
Saturday's killings were one of the worst in Egypt in years; vendetta killings are widespread in rural areas.
The victims of Saturday's shooting were put to rest in a mass burial Saturday.
