• 21:38
  • Friday ,20 March 2015
العربية

Brotherhood allying with jihadist militants: Interior ministry

By-ahram

Copts and Poliltical Islam

00:03

Friday ,20 March 2015

Brotherhood allying with jihadist militants: Interior ministry

Ajnad Misr militant group is responsible for an attack near the Cairo High Court earlier this month which killed two civilians and injured a number of others, interior ministry spokesperson Hany Abdel-Latif said on ThursdayAjnad Misr militant group is responsible for an attack near the Cairo High Court earlier this month which killed two civilians and injured a number of others, interior ministry spokesperson Hany Abdel-Latif said on Thursday

Abdel-Latif also blamed the militant group for other smaller attacks in Haram, Giza and Ain Shams.
 
In 2014, Ajnad Misr has claimed responsibility for planting bombs near the Ittihadiya presidential palace and Cairo University.
 
The group was designated as a terrorist organisation by an Egyptian court in May 2014.
 
Fugitive members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood have indirectly participated in attacks taking place in Egypt, the spokesman added.  
 
Investigations indicate "leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood who have fled the country are changing their rhetoric and officially abandoning their commitment to peaceful movements," Abdel-Latif said.
 
He added that the Brotherhood has been merging with other "terrorist organisations" whose goal is to “spread chaos.”  
 
The interior ministry has described Ajnad Misr, Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis and Gamaa Islamiya as “extremist religious groups that have similar ideologies to the Brotherhood.”
 
These groups have claimed responsibility for attacks that have killed and injured dozens of people across the country.
 
The spokesperson said police had [recently] arrested 108 people who have "participated in attacks on police stations, committed hostile acts and incited violence."
 
Islamist militant attacks against security forces sharply spiked after the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
 
Hundreds of police and army personnel, as well as suspected militants and some civilians, have been killed in violent attacks and confrontations in the last year and a half, according to official statements.
 
The government's crackdown on Islamists forced many leading members of the Brotherhood to seek refuge in countries such as Qatar and Turkey.
 
The Muslim Brotherhood has repeatedly said it does not condone violence.
 
Recently, local and foreign business interests, including mobile phone service providers, fast food chains and banks have been targeted with small bombs, reportedly by anti-government Islamist militants.