Egyptian police arrest foreigners for allegedly plotting terror attacks
(Cairo, Egypt-AP) December 4, 2006 –
The State Department says US officials are "seeking consular access" to an American who was arrested in Egypt about a week ago.
Egypt Monday announced that it had arrested an American, 11 Europeans and several others from Arab countries for allegedly plotting terrorist attacks.
Egypt's Interior Ministry says those attacks were to take place in Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries. In a statement, the ministry says the group was part of an Islamic militant terror cell that was living in Egypt, under the guise of studying Arabic and Islam.
The statement says the suspects include two Belgians and nine people from France. A Belgian official says the two Belgians apparently "had sympathies with fundamentalist, Islamist circles." But the official says there's no evidence that they carried out any violence.