CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader said in a new videotape aired Saturday
that an Egyptian militant group has joined the terror network.
Ayman al-Zawahri
speaks to the press in this 1998 file photo taken in Khost, Afghanistan,
and made available March 19, 2004. The al-Qaida No. 2 announced in a new
videotape aired Saturday, Aug. 5, 2006, that an Egyptian militant group
has joined the terror network. [AP] |
It was the first time that al-Qaida has announced a branch in Egypt, the Arab
world's most populous nation. The Egyptian group, Gamaa Islamiya, is apparently
a revived version of a militant group of the same name that waged a campaign of
violence in Egypt during the 1990s but was crushed in a government crackdown.
"We announce to the Islamic nation the good news of the unification of a
great faction of the knights of the Gamaa Islamiya ... with the al-Qaida group,"
Ayman al-Zawahri said in the videotape aired on the Al-Jazeera news network.
Al-Zawahri, who is Egyptian, said the Egyptian group was led by Mohammed
al-Islambouli, the younger brother of Khaled al-Islambouli, the militant who
assassinated Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat in 1981 and was later executed.
The video included a statement by Mohammed al-Hakayma, identified as another
top leader of the revived Gamaa. Al-Hakayma was shown talking in a grove of palm
trees.
"A large number of the brothers have decided who are still on the same
genuine path of Gamaa Islamiya and its principles, headed by the holy warrior
Mohammed al-Islambuli, decided to unite with al-Qaida, considering it one of the
most important seekers of jihad (holy war) of this era," al-Hakayma said.
Mohammed al-Islambouli left Egypt in the mid-1980s and was believed to have
been in Afghanistan working with al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, said Diaa
Rashwan, an Egyptian expert on militant groups.
It was not clear how much of a following the new version of Gamaa Islamiya
has in Egypt. Its previous incarnation was largely eliminated by the government
crackdown, and its leaders later announced a truce from prison. It has not
claimed any attacks since a 1997 attack on a pharaonic site in the southern city
of Luxor that killed 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptians.
Rashwan said al-Zawahri's claim was likely just propaganda.
"This is media talk from Ayman al-Zawahri. The Gamaa Islamiya has its own
leadership and they said they have already rejected joining al-Qaida in the
past," he said. "Gamaa Islamiya has no command outside Egypt. They have
dissolved in Egypt."
Egypt has seen a string of terror bombings against tourist resorts in the
Sinai Peninsula since October 2004, killing 98 people. Egyptian authorities have
said those attacks were carried out by a group calling itself Monotheism and
Jihad, with links to Palestinian militants.
Many experts believe Monotheism and Jihad is inspired by al-Qaida and may
have some operational links, but the Egyptian government has not announced any
connection.
The excerpts of the video played by Al-Jazeera did not mention any imminent
threats of attacks in Egypt. In the video, al-Zawahri wore a white turban and
was in front of a plain black background.
Al-Zawahri was once a member of Islamic Jihad, the other main Egyptian
militant group that led violence in the 1990s alongside the original Gamaa
Islamiya. In the late 1990s, he moved to Afghanistan and joined forces with bin
Laden, bringing a number of Egyptian militants with him.
In the video, al-Hakayma, wearing glasses and holding an automatic weapon,
said former members had decided to revive the group and rejected their jailed
leaders' adherence to a truce. He vowed loyalty to Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman,
Gamaa's former leader who is in a U.S. prison after his 1995 conviction in a
conspiracy to blow up New York City landmarks.
Al-Hakayma was once a "second tier" leader of the original Gamaa, Montasser
al-Zayat, an Islamist lawyer who once represented many militants in court, told
Al-Jazeera.
It was al-Zawahri's second message in just over a week and his 11th this
year. The Egyptian-born militant appeared in a video on July 27 in which he
called for Muslims to unite in a holy war against Israel and to join the
fighting in Lebanon and Gaza.
