CAIRO, 12 April 2004 — Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda terror network is capable of exploiting developments in the Middle East to unleash even more ferocious attacks in the future, the Egyptian interior minister said yesterday.
“The Al-Qaeda network has changed its mantra. After the mantra of Islam, it adopted the mantra of nationalism, exploiting the developments in the region,” Habib Al-Adly was quoted as saying by the MENA news agency, referring to the situation in Iraq and the Palestinian territories.
“The Al-Qaeda network is still alive and capable of action. Its diplomatic channels are still open,” he added. Bin Laden’s group is able to exploit “different political and religious trends, and different nationalities,” he said. “What we see (happening) now at an international and regional level, will give birth to new terror cells that will wage more ferocious operations,” he said.
Meanwhile, five policemen are to go on trial in northern Egypt for allegedly torturing four men into confessing to a murder they did not commit, legal sources said yesterday.
The state prosecutor has referred the officers, who are also accused of coercing their subordinates into torturing the suspects, to the criminal court in the northern town of Banha, the sources said.
The men confessed to killing the victim, identified as Khaled Abdel Tawab Yunes, in early 2000 and received sentences ranging from between five and 15 years in prison. They have all served three years of their terms.
