Egypt facing yet another threat

A militant group behind a wave of spectacular attacks poses a serious threat to Egypt’s stability as political turmoil triggered by the Mursi’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.
These include 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 army chief Abdel Fattah El-Sissi, who is expected to stand for the presidency.
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.”
Analysts say the group is inspired by Al-Qaeda. But Egyptian security officials claim the “terrorist group is derived” from the Muslim Brotherhood.
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.
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 militants.Sinai-based researcher Ismail Alexandrani said Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis had procured weapons from Libya and Sudan after the fall of Mubarak.
“We can also say that some jihadists who previously fought in Afghanistan, Syria and Bosnia have joined the group,” he added.
Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis believes in gaining power through violence, analysts believe.