Egypt’s extremist Islamists, including jihadists, flex their muscles
CAIRO — Militants who have vowed allegiance to al-Qaida attack security forces in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula close to Israel and enjoy unchallenged control of two border towns. Radical Islamists in Cairo chant anti-US slogans and dream of turning the most populous Arab country into a religious state.
With their scourge — ousted President Hosni Mubarak — out of the way, the most extreme fringe of Islamists is flexing its muscles, adding a potentially destabilizing layer to Egypt’s multiple political troubles ahead of presidential elections later this month.
The emergence of the militants comes at a time when security remains tenuous 14 months after Mubarak’s fall. Security officials report thousands of weapons, including rockets, machine-guns, rockets and RPGs, flooding the nation from neighboring Libya and some 4,000 inmates, including convicted militants, are on the run after the mass prison outbreaks of the early days of the anti-Mubarak uprising.
Worries over the radical fringe have risen at a time when tensions are growing between the generals who succeeded Mubarak and other Islamists over a host of issues — including the fate of the military-backed government, a court case looking into the legitimacy of the Islamist-dominated parliament and the selection process for a 100-member panel that will draft a new constitution.
“The dreams of the revolution are fast disappearing and, in response, extremist groups are emerging,” said Khalil el-Anani, an expert on Islamic groups from Britain’s Durham University. “Those extremists follow al-Qaida’s ideology but are not organizationally affiliated with it.”
The militants, believed to be followers of former jihadist groups, lie at the outer edge of the Islamist movement. More mainstream Islamists gained instant empowerment when Mubarak’s regime was toppled by a popular uprising. Led by the powerful Muslim Brotherhood and the ultraconservative Salafis, these Islamists long ago abandoned violence and supported peaceful change toward an Islamic state.
The Brotherhood and the Salafis now combine for more than 70 percent of all seats in parliament, making them the dominant political force in the country.
Talk of increasing radicalism could play into the stormy political situation. El-Anani said media loyal to the military could be drumming up the potential threat to justify a military crackdown that could even sweep up more mainstream groups. Or the warnings could steer some popular support toward presidential candidates seen as more favorable to the military.
Concerns about the fringe groups were hiked by reports that some made an appearance among a weeklong protest by several thousand Salafis camped near the Defense Ministry in Cairo to protest the disqualification of an ultraconservative lawyer-turned-preacher from the May 23-24 presidential election.
Wearing beards and long robes — hallmarks of militant Muslims — they waved the black banners of al-Qaida and chanted slogans against President Barack Obama and praising al-Qaida’s late leader Osama bin Laden. In their midst was Mohammed al-Zawahri, brother of al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri and himself a veteran of the war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.