EXCLUSIVE-Islamic State guides Egyptian militants, expanding its influence
Fri Sep 5, 2014 12:48pm GMT
* Teaching the element of surprise, evading capture
* Egypt militant networks gets more complex
* Challenge for Sisi after Brotherhood neutralised
CAIRO, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Islamic State, fighting to redraw the map of the
Middle East, has been coaching Egypt's most dangerous militant group,
complicating efforts to stabilise the biggest Arab nation.
Confirmation that Islamic Sate, currently the most successful of the
region's jihadi groups, is extending its influence to Egypt will sound alarm
bells in Cairo, where the authorities are already facing a security
challenge from home-grown militants.
A senior commander from the Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, which has
killed hundreds of members of the Egyptian security forces over the last
year, said Islamic State has provided instructions on how to operate more
effectively.
"They teach us how to carry out operations. We communicate through the
internet," the commander, who asked to remain anonymous, told Reuters.
"They don't give us weapons or fighters. But they teach us how to create
secret cells, consisting of five people. Only one person has contact with
other cells."
Militant groups and the Egyptian state are old foes. Some of al Qaeda's most
notorious commanders, including its current leader Ayman al-Zawahri, are
Egyptian.
One Egyptian president after another has crushed militant groups but they
have always resurfaced.
The success of Islamic State in seizing large parts of Syria and Iraq has
raised concerns in Egypt, where authorities are battling Ansar as well as
militants who have capitalised on the chaos in post-Gaddafi Libya to set up
over the border.
Islamic State became the first jihadi group to defeat an Arab army in a
major operation after steamrolling through northern Iraq in June almost
unopposed by the Iraqi military.
MILITANT THREAT
Unlike al-Qaeda, which specialises in hit and run operations and suicide
bombings, Islamic State acts like an army, seizing and holding territory, a
new kind of challenge for Western-backed Arab states.
Army offensives have squeezed Ansar, forcing its members to flee to other
parts of Egypt, the commander said. But it still poses a security threat.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has expressed concerns about militants over
the Libyan frontier. Security officials say these groups are inspired by
Islamic State, an offshoot of al Qaeda notorious for beheadings and mass
executions, most recently of American journalists James Foley and Steven
Sotloff.
Sisi, who as army chief toppled Islamist President Mohamed Mursi last year
after mass protests against his rule and then cracked down on his Muslim
Brotherhood, has restored some political stability.
But militant groups still present a major challenge. Security officials say
thousands of Egyptian militants have joined Islamic State's jihad in Iraq
and Syria and authorities are concerned they could return home to fight the
government.
That would pile pressure on Egyptian security forces who have failed to end
a campaign of bombings and shootings which killed hundreds of soldiers and
police since Mursi's fall.
Egyptian security officials say leaders of Islamic State and Ansar have
established contacts. Meanwhile, militants based in Libya have also forged
ties with Ansar, creating a complex web.
HEADLESS CORPSES
Ansar recently said it had beheaded four Egyptians, accusing them of
providing Israel with intelligence for an air strike that killed three of
its fighters.
Four headless corpses were found in the Sinai Peninsula. It was the first
time that any decapitations had been made public in Egypt, a strategic U.S.
ally which has a peace treaty with Israel and controls the Suez Canal, a key
global shipping route.
In a video on Twitter, armed men in black masks stood over the kneeling
captives as one of the militants read out a statement. Minutes later, the
four men had their heads cut off.
The Ansar commander, who said his group had contacted Islamic State for
advice, described the beheadings as a clear message that anyone cooperating
with the group's enemies would face a similar fate. "The beheadings had a
purpose," he said.
The violence suggested a new level of radicalism in Egypt, where security
crackdowns, political violence and street protests have hammered the economy
since the "Arab Spring" uprising ousted President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
"Ansar and Islamic State definitely have ties but there are no Islamic State
members in Egypt," said a security official.
"There is definitely coordination between Ansar, the militants in Libya and
Islamic State leaders."
The security official said Egyptian authorities have handed airport
officials lists of Egyptians who went abroad to wage jihad.
"There are some people who we know are coming back to carry out attacks so
we arrest them. The same goes for others who come back to visit their
families," he said.
"There is a third type who comes back to recruit. We just watch him until
the time is right to move in."
The movement of Ansar militants from the Sinai to towns and cities outside
the peninsula could make it more difficult for intelligence agencies to
track the group.
"We have trouble working in Sinai. It's easier elsewhere," said the Ansar
commander, adding that fighters were benefiting from advice provided by
Islamic State.
"They are teaching us how to attack security forces, the element of
surprise," he said. "They told us to plant bombs then wait 12 hours so that
the man planting the device has enough time to escape from the town he is
in."
The commander said bombings not carried out by Ansar suggested new militant
groups had appeared in Egypt, adding that there is a flow of militants both
ways across the Libyan border.
"There are others operating in Egypt. We don't know anything about them," he
said. "We have individuals who went to Libya. We lost contact."
Asked about pressure from Egypt's military, one of the biggest in the world,
the commander said security offensives had created new enemies for the
state.
"Every time one of us is killed, two or three others join. Usually relatives
of those who are killed." (Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Giles
Elgood)