Egypt Islamists in hiding ahead of local elections

A government crackdown has forced dozens of Muslim Brotherhood members into hiding ahead of local elections in Egypt, where the banned group has become the US-allied country's most powerful opposition force by agitating for Islamic law and democratic reform.

House-to-house searches and dawn ambushes by police this month placed behind bars about 750 prominent Brotherhood members, many of whom were hoping to run as candidates in the April balloting. The sweep has even drawn the ire of the Bush administration, which, though it did not name the Brotherhood, criticized the crackdown. (AP)