World Bulletin/News Desk

Egyptian security forces raided the home of the spokesman for ousted president Mohamed Morsi's support bloc early Thursday morning in an attempt to arrest him, a source from the pro-Morsi National Alliance for the Defense of Legitimacy has said.

A joint army/police force raided the home of alliance spokesman Khaled Said in the Nile Delta's Mansoura city, but he was not at home at the time, the source told Anadolu Agency.

The source expects more arrests targeting leading members of the alliance, which recently called for fresh protests against Egypt's military-backed government – both on the streets and inside the nation's prisons.

Said is also the spokesman for the Salafist Front, a subcomponent of the pro-Morsi alliance that has separately called for an "Islamic revolution" against the government on November 28.

The pro-Morsi alliance's former spokesman, Magdi Qurqur, was arrested in July on an array of charges, including "attempting to overthrow the government" and "belonging to a terrorist organization."

No security official could be immediately reached for comment on the raid on Said's house.

The pro-Morsi alliance has continued to stage frequent rallies to protest last year's ouster of Morsi – Egypt's first freely elected president – by the army.

Since Morsi's ouster almost 17 months ago, hundreds of his supporters have been killed and thousands thrown behind bars by Egypt's army-backed government.

Former army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, widely seen as the architect of Morsi's ouster and subsequent imprisonment, was declared the winner of May presidential polls.