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May 19, 2006
Egypt: Clumsy Islamist Blows Himself Up
A report from Switzerland's ISN states that an Islamist has killed himself. He was wanted in connection with the bombings of tourist resorts in Egypt, the most recent happening on April 24 at Dahab, killing 19 individuals.
Arafat Ali had been cornered by police in the town of Rafah on the Egypt/Gaza border. He tried to throw a bomb at the police but he managed to detonate it prematurely, killing himself.
Arafat Ali was second in command of the Tawhid wal Jihad Islamist terror group. The name means "Unity and Holy War". Their attacks on resorts in the Red Sea since October 2004 have killed 117 people. The first attacks happened at Taba and Ras Shitan, killing 34 people.
The most severe of these bomb atrocities was that at Sharm el Sheikh, which took place on July 23 last year, killing 57 and injuring more than 200. Three days later, Tawhid wal Jihad announced responsibility for the attacks in a statement. The group is comprised mainly of Bedouins based in the Sinai peninsula.
On March 26, 13 individuals from Tawhid wal Jihad were charged with the Sharm el-Sheikh blasts.
The leader of the Tawhid wal Jihad group had been killed by police earlier this month. Nasser Khamis el-Mallahi, aged 30 had been killed in a gun battle near the town of Al-Arish on Tuesday May 9. One of el-Mallahi's top aides, Abdallah Alyan Abu Jarair, was arrested following the gun battle. Jarair and al-Mallahi both lived in the town of Al-Arish.
The death of Arafat Ali is not the first case of an Islamist klutz in the Tawhid wal Jihad. Two days after the Dahab attacks, two suicide bombers tried to blow up multinational forces posted in Sinai, but managed to only blow themselves up.
Their main bomb-maker, Bedouin leader Salem Khadr al-Shnub, was shot dead in the Sinai peninsular on November 21 last year.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at May 19, 2006 8:08 PM
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