Isis encourages Egyptian insurgents to continue attacks
Islamic State (Isis) has called on insurgents in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula to press ahead with attacks against the country’s security forces and continue beheadings – an announcement likely to deepen concerns over ties between the militant groups.
“Rig the roads with explosives for them. Attack their bases. Raid their homes. Cut off their heads. Do not let them feel secure,” Isis spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani said in a statement released online on Monday.
On Sunday, Egyptian militant group Ajnad Misr – or Soldiers of Egypt – claimed responsibility for a bomb blast in a busy downtown Cairo street near the foreign ministry that killed two senior police officers and wounded several other policemen.
Ajnad Misr, which has claimed responsibility for previous attacks on police, said in a statement posted on its Twitter account and on a militant website that it had used an explosive device on “officers of the criminal apparatus” as part of its campaign against security forces.
It said the attacks will not stop until “the ruling tyrants fall and God’s sharia is established”.
Similar attacks have intensified since the overthrow of Egypt’s Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, more than one year ago.
