Egypt says thwarts suicide attack on foreign embassy

Security forces capture al-Qaeda-linked terror group that was about to carry out suicide attack against foreign embassy, interior minister says but declines to say which embassy

News agencies|Published: 05.11.13 , 17:15

Egyptian security forces have captured an al-Qaeda-linked group that was on the verge of carrying out a suicide attack against a foreign embassy in the country, the interior minister said on Saturday.

Mohamed Ibrahim, speaking in a televised news conference, declined to say which embassy had been targeted. He named three suspected members of the cell now under arrest.

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"The Interior Ministry was able to direct a qualitative blow to a terrorist cell that was planning suicide operations against vital, important and foreign facilities in the country," he said. These included the planned suicide attack on a foreign embassy, he said.

Ibrahim said one of the militants had been a member of al-Qaeda in Algeria who had travelled to Pakistan and Iran to receive training.

The interior minister said authorities seized 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of ammonium nitrate, a key ingredient in homemade explosives. Security officials also discovered statements issued by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the group's arm in North Africa, on one of the men's computers with information on how to make bombs and rockets, and ways of collecting intelligence.

He said the suspects are also believed to have links with the so-called "Nasr City terror cell," which was broken up last year and its members arrested on accusations of plotting attacks against public figures in Egypt.

While repeatedly saying the group did not represent an al-Qaeda cell in Egypt, Ibrahim said it was linked to al Qaeda in western Asia and "elements responsible for receiving terrorist elements on the Turkish borders" - an allusion to militants overseeing the flow of Islamist fighters into Syria's civil war.

Ibrahim said one of the three men had received instructions from Dawood al-Assady, a leader of al-Qaida in southeast Asian countries such as Pakistan, to contact two members of the Nasr City terror cell.

He added that one of the men had received combat training by members of al-Qaeda in Iran and Pakistan and also had connections with members of al-Qaeda in Algeria. The group was additionally accused of having contacts with someone who is in charge of receiving suspected terrorists on the Turkish border, but not further details were given. Turkey has borders with Iraq, Syria and Iran.

The interior minister named the suspects as Amr Mohammed Abu al-Ela Aqida, Mohammed Abdel-Halim Hemaida Saleh and Mohammed Mostafa Mohammed Ibrahim Bayoumi. Two of the men were detained in the northern coastal city of Alexandria, while the third was arrested in Cairo.