By IANS,
Cairo : Egyptian security forces late Wednesday raided the Cairo office of Qatar’s Al-Jazeera TV, arresting 11 Qatari citizens including four officials, it was reported Thursday.
They also seized some television equipment including camera holders and video tapes, Xinhua reported citing the state-run Ahram website .
Egyptian authorities had received reports that weapons were hidden inside the channel’s office but no arms were found during the raid, the Ahram report added.
In September, a Cairo court ordered the Al-Jazeera Mubasher Misr (Al-Jazeera in Egypt) to go off air along with several Islamist channels for inciting national disorder after the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi by the army July 3.
An ally of the Muslim Brotherhood, Qatar has seen increasing deterioration of relations with Egypt’s military-backed interim government since the toppling of Morsi, a Brotherhood member.
Egyptian interim President Adli Mansour has indicated his disapproval of Doha for its interference in his country’s internal affairs, saying “our patience is about to run out”.
The Egyptian transitional government has decided to give $8 billion worth of loans back to Qatar, which Egypt received during Morsi’s rule.