A jihadist group behind a wave of spectacular attacks is a grave threat to Egypt’s stability as political turmoil triggered by the Islamist president’s ouster rocks the country, analysts say.
In less than a fortnight, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (Partisans of Jerusalem) has claimed responsibility for several high-profile attacks, including a car bombing at police headquarters in Cairo, shooting down a military helicopter with a missile and assassinating a police general in broad daylight in the capital.
“Vengeance is coming,” the Sinai-based group warned Egyptian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief General Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, who is expected to stand for the presidency after he ousted former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, the nation’s first democratically elected president.
The group’s attacks have “made Egyptian authorities look like they were chasing ghosts,” said David Barnett, research associate at US-based think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
“It is the main militant group that has the potential to escalate the destabilization in the country,” he said.
Analysts say Ansar Beit al-Maqdis is inspired by al-Qaeda, but Egyptian security officials claim the “terrorist group is derived” from The Muslim Brotherhood, which won all elections after the 2011 ouster of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.
Ansar Beit al-Maqdis is thought to have been founded primarily by Egyptians in 2011 after the anti-Mubarak revolt, with most of its fighters drawn from Sinai tribes.
In recent months the group has also seen support coming from the Nile Delta and some areas of Cairo, experts say.
Although its overall command structure and source of funding are major unknowns, two of its known leaders are Shadi el-Menei, who has eluded arrest so far and is from Sinai’s Sawarka tribe, and Abu Osama el-Masry, of whom little is known.
The group is also believed to be led or backed by militants who broke out of prison in 2011 during the anti-Mubarak revolt.
“Its links with al-Qaeda are tenuous at best,” Barnett said.
The group’s videos often feature clips of al-Qaeda’s Egypt-born leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
The group’s “early goal was to attack Israel and prevent cooperation between Egypt and Israel by sabotaging gas pipelines,” said France-based Matthieu Guidere, an expert on Islamist militants.
On Friday its fighters fired a rocket at Israel’s Red Sea resort of Eilat, the group said.
“On July 3 [last year, the day Morsi was removed] the group issued a fatwa declaring the Egyptian army as infidels. From there, it turned from an anti-Israeli jihadist group to one focusing against the Egyptian security forces,” Guidere said.
Ansar Beit al-Maqdis also claimed a car bomb attack on Sept. 5 last year in Cairo targeting Egyptian Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim, who escaped unhurt.
Its deadliest assault was a suicide car bomb on Dec. 24 last year that ripped through a police building north of Cairo, killing 15 people.
On Jan. 25, the third anniversary of the start of the anti-Mubarak revolt, the group claimed it downed a military helicopter in Sinai with a missile, killing five soldiers.
“The level of sophistication is beyond what observers thought they were capable of,” Barnett said. “The attacks suggest there are well experienced fighters in the group. Some of them have significant experience in fighting.”
Sinai-based researcher Ismail Alexandrani said Ansar Beit al-Maqdis had procured weapons from Libya and Sudan and that some jihadists who fought in Afghanistan, Syria and Bosnia have joined the group.
Ansar Beit al-Maqdis believes in gaining power through violence, analysts believe.
“The overthrow of Morsi’s government is a prime indication for their argument that the way to success is through violence and not through democratic process,” Barnett said.
Egyptian Deputy Interior Minister Shafiq Saeed said members of the group “have confessed that [Ansar Beit al-Maqdis] belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood,” and denied that jihadist attacks had risen.
“The government is so entrenched in the battle against the Brotherhood that they appear to be losing the sight of the actual battle around them,” Barnett said. “The reality is that there is real danger from the jihadi group capable of carrying out attacks.”
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia