Egyptian Army Arrests Terror Leader in North Sinai

The Egyptian Army arrested the leader of the U.S. designated terrorist organization Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis on Friday in North Sinai, reported Ahram Arabic news. Walid Attalah is suspected of orchestrating the RPG attack in North Sinai last Thursday that killed three Egyptian policemen and wounded seven.

Ahram Online quoted an official source saying, “Walid Attalah received Egyptian citizenship during the era of ousted president Mohamed Morsi and he is of Palestinian origins.”

Three Egyptian troops were killed on Saturday when a tunnel collapsed that runs along the border with the Gaza Strip. ABC reported one officer and two soldiers were killed and rescuers are still looking for a fourth body. Another soldier was injured in the incident.

The Egyptian military has closed 1,813 tunnels since 2011. According to ABC news, the interior ministry stated on “Saturday that the security forces have arrested 52 suspected militants who operated in different cells with the aim of targeting Egypt’s infrastructure, including power stations, railroads, water plants and other services.”

ABC stated that the “Ministry spokesman Hani Abdel-Latif said the suspects were apprehended in Giza — a district of the capital — Alexandria, two Nile Delta provinces and two southern provinces He said the suspects attacked and vandalized a train as well as power and mobile pylon poles. He said they are also accused of obstructing traffic on main roads and plotting attacks against police.”

Abdel-Latif stated that some of the suspects arrested were linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia have all designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann introduced legislation in Congress last summer to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organization.

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928 and is responsible for the assassination of Egypt’s Prime Minister in 1948, attempted assassination of former Egyptian President Gamal And al-Nasser in 1954, the assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1981, after signing the peace treaty with Israel. The Muslim Brotherhood had ties to Nazi Germany in the 1930’s and in 1952 members of the Brotherhood were accused of destroying around 750 buildings in downtown Cairo. The Muslim Brotherhood’s history since its inception is full of violence and terrorism with the stated purpose of establishing a global caliphate.

The Muslim Brotherhood has denied any involvement in terrorism but there is undeniable evidence that the Brotherhood is directly responsible for the violence that erupted after the removal of former Islamist President Morsi in Egypt. The Brotherhood immediately reacted to the removal of Morsi threatening Christians and the Egyptian people for taking to the streets on June 30th. The Muslim Brotherhood is the umbrella for all terrorist organizations in the world with the same ultimate goal as ISIS, Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, Boko Haram and other groups. They may use different tactics to achieve their ambition, but their end goal is the same.

Tera Dahl is the Executive Director of the Council on Global Security.

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