McClatchy DC Logo

Al-Qaida claiming new recruits in Egypt, but it may be just talk | McClatchy Washington Bureau

×
    • Customer Service
    • Mobile & Apps
    • Contact Us
    • Newsletters
    • Subscriber Services

    • All White House
    • Russia
    • All Congress
    • Budget
    • All Justice
    • Supreme Court
    • DOJ
    • Criminal Justice
    • All Elections
    • Campaigns
    • Midterms
    • The Influencer Series
    • All Policy
    • National Security
    • Guantanamo
    • Environment
    • Climate
    • Energy
    • Water Rights
    • Guns
    • Poverty
    • Health Care
    • Immigration
    • Trade
    • Civil Rights
    • Agriculture
    • Technology
    • Cybersecurity
    • All Nation & World
    • National
    • Regional
    • The East
    • The West
    • The Midwest
    • The South
    • World
    • Diplomacy
    • Latin America
    • Investigations
  • Podcasts
    • All Opinion
    • Political Cartoons

  • Our Newsrooms

Latest News

Al-Qaida claiming new recruits in Egypt, but it may be just talk

Miret el Naggar - McClatchy Newspapers

    ORDER REPRINT →

August 06, 2006 03:00 AM

CAIRO, Egypt—Al-Qaida's weekend announcement that a prominent Egyptian militant group had joined forces with the terror network doesn't signal a significant new threat, Egyptian analysts and former militants said Sunday.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian physician who is Osama bin Laden's second in command, said in a video message Saturday that "a great faction of knights" from Gamaa Islamiya had united with al-Qaida to battle Israel and its Western supporters. Gamaa Islamiya officials issued hasty denials that it had joined al-Qaida, but acknowledged that a few of its current or former members might do so.

"If some brothers have joined, then this is their personal view and I don't think that most Gamaa Islamiya members share that same opinion," Sheikh Abdel Akher Hammad, a former leader of the group who now lives in Germany, told the Al-Jazeera satellite channel.

Al-Zawahiri's message also was aired on Al-Jazeera, which broadcast portions of the video in which the al-Qaida No. 2 said the union was designed "to combine the efforts of the Islamic nation against the worst crusader campaign against Islam in history."

SIGN UP

Several analysts said the statement doesn't amount to much of a threat.

"This announcement is weightless," said Montasser Zayat, a Cairo attorney who has defended several militants associated with Gamaa Islamiya and shared a cell with al-Zawahiri in the 1980s.

Gamaa Islamiya is an Islamist militant organization that was responsible for a string of terrorist attacks targeting Egypt's tourism industry during the 1990s. Its deadliest attack came in 1997 in the southern city of Luxor, where militants killed 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptians.

The group also claimed responsibility for a failed assassination attempt against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak during a visit to Ethiopia in 1995. Members of the group also were involved in the assassination of Mubarak's predecessor, Anwar Sadat, in 1981.

Gamaa Islamiya renounced violence in the late 1990s and entered a truce with the government. In April, Egypt released 950 of the group's members, including some who had been in prison since Sadat's killing.

Diaa Rashwan, an expert on Islamist militant movements for the Ahram Center in Cairo, said al-Zawahiri's announcement was an attempt for the group to stay relevant in Egypt as world attention is turned to conflicts in Iraq and Lebanon.

"This is absolute nonsense. Al-Gamaa has a very intact leadership and is a very organized group, and they are currently on good terms with the Egyptian government," Rashwan said.

———

(c) 2006, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Need to map

  Comments  

Videos

Democrats announce Green New Deal

Sen. McConnell says Trump will sign spending bill and declare a national emergency

View More Video

Trending Stories

Jared Kushner privately working on reshaping legal immigration

February 20, 2019 05:00 PM

Trump slams California’s ‘fast train’ as Gavin Newsom leads 16 states suing over border wall

February 19, 2019 10:46 AM

Stacey Abrams appearance at voting rights hearing has political overtones, GOP says

February 19, 2019 10:20 AM

VP Mike Pence plans visit to South Carolina to tour Opportunity Zones with Tim Scott

February 19, 2019 05:22 PM

Why Trump’s tweets could be used against him in California’s border emergency lawsuit

February 19, 2019 05:15 PM

Read Next

Republicans rally around Trump after McCabe asserts DOJ discussed removing the president

Congress

Republicans rally around Trump after McCabe asserts DOJ discussed removing the president

By David Lightman and

Lesley Clark

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 20, 2019 04:53 PM

Republicans are on the offensive trying to discredit former FBI Director Andrew McCabe, who has said Justice officials discussed possible ways to remove President Donald Trump from office

KEEP READING

MORE LATEST NEWS

Massive public lands bill expected to receive easy approval in the House

Congress

Massive public lands bill expected to receive easy approval in the House

February 20, 2019 12:54 PM
‘You’re my guy’: Top Senate Dem urges Jaime Harrison to challenge Lindsey Graham

Elections

‘You’re my guy’: Top Senate Dem urges Jaime Harrison to challenge Lindsey Graham

February 20, 2019 12:12 PM
VP Mike Pence plans visit to South Carolina to tour Opportunity Zones with Tim Scott

Congress

VP Mike Pence plans visit to South Carolina to tour Opportunity Zones with Tim Scott

February 19, 2019 05:22 PM

Congress

Stacey Abrams appearance at voting rights hearing has political overtones, GOP says

February 19, 2019 10:20 AM
On offshore drilling, Mark Sanford and Joe Cunningham find their legacies are linked

Congress

On offshore drilling, Mark Sanford and Joe Cunningham find their legacies are linked

February 15, 2019 05:00 AM
McConnell’s opposition to Green New Deal comes as he backs not-so-green resource: coal

Congress

McConnell’s opposition to Green New Deal comes as he backs not-so-green resource: coal

February 15, 2019 02:10 PM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

McClatchy Washington Bureau App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Newsletters
Learn More
  • Customer Service
  • Securely Share News Tips
  • Contact Us
Advertising
  • Advertise With Us
Copyright
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story