Egypt's interior minister said today that security authorities have arrested three suspected al-Qaida-linked militants who were planning to carry out suicide attacks on vital installations and an unspecified embassy.
Mohammed Ibrahim told a news conference that the men had been in contact with Dawood al-Assady, a leader of al-Qaida in southeast Asian countries such as Pakistan, and that the group was planning to attack government buildings and a foreign embassy. He did not disclose details.
Ibrahim said authorities seized 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of ammonium nitrate, a key ingredient in homemade explosives. Security officials also discovered statements issued by al-Qaida 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.
The interior minister denied that al-Qaida is active in Egypt, but said the three men were in contact with al-Qaida militants abroad.
Egypt's security has sharply deteriorated in the past two years, with Islamic militants suspected of being behind cross-border assaults on Israel as well as a bold attack that killed 16 Egyptian soldiers in the northern Sinai Peninsula last year. Ibrahim told reporters that the men were trying to take advantage of the country's situation to "target innocent civilians and attack foreign diplomatic missions."
Ibrahim said one of the three men had received instructions from al-Assady to contact two members of the Nasr City terror cell.
