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August 5, 2006

Islam: Egyptian Group Jamaa Islamiya Has Joined Al-Qaeda

News from Associated Press via Sign On San Diego relates that the Egyptian militant group Gamaa Islamiya (also called Jamaa Islamiya or al-Gama'at al-Islamiyya) has signed up to join Al Qaeda.

The announcement was made on Al Jazeera TV in a video made by Ayman al-Zawahiri, deputy leader of Al Qaeda, who himself had been, in the 1970s, one of the founders of the group. Jamaa Islamiya had been founded as a response to a decision by the Muslim Brotherhood to renounce terrorist activities.

The group, which killed Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981, has been split for some time into two factions. We reported on June 20 that a website had recently been set up which claimed that the group had renounced violence. The other faction has refused to give up on its original militant goals, and this is the group which has pledged its allegiance to Al Qaeda.

The spiritual leader of the group was Omar Abdel-Rahman (pictured), who had planned the first attack upon the World Trade Center in February 1993. In June 2000, he had said he would agree to the pledge of peace agreed to by other members of the group, but later retracted his support for "moderation".

On November 17 1997, six members of Gamaa/Jamaa Islamiya had carried out a violent attack at Luxor, northern Egypt. 58 tourists were machine-gunned or hacked to death, after a visit to the tomb of Queen Hatseheput. 36 of these had been Swiss nationals.

Between 1992 and 1998, the activities of Jamaa Islamiya had claimed 1,300 lives. It was in 1998, after the outrage at Luxor and the subsequent crackdown, that the main faction of the group renounced violence. Groups related to Jamaa Islamiyah were Egyptian Islamic Jihad and Taleh al-Fatah.

Al-Zawahri stated: "We announce to the Islamic nation the good news of the unification of a great faction of the knights of the Gamaa Islamiya...with the al-Qaeda group."

The Al Qaeda deputy said that the leader of the Egyptian group is Mohammed al-Islambouli, younger brother of Khaled al-Islambouli, who was executed for the murder of Anwar Sadat.

The video also depicted another individual who was said to be a main leader of the Gamaa Islamiya - Mohammed al-Hakayma. Filmed amongst palm trees, Hakayma said: "A large number of the brothers have decided who are still on the same genuine path of Gamaa Islamiya and its principles, headed by the holy warrior Mohammed al-Islambuli, decided to unite with al-Qaeda, considering it one of the most important seekers of jihad of this era."

The official group Gamaa Islamiya had condemned the bombings of Red Sea resorts at Taba, Ras Shitan and Nuweiba which were carried out in October 2004, which killed 34 people, including Israeli tourists. The perpetrators of those attacks, as well as the attack upon Sharm el-Sheikh on 25 July, 2005, was a group calling itself Tawid and Jihad, or Monothism and Jihad.

Sharm el-Sheikh's bombing had killed 64 victims, many tourists, and on April 24 Tawhid and Jihad attacked the Red Sea resort of Dahab, killing at least 20 people.

It is thought that Tawhid & Jihad has close links with Al Qaeda, though this has not been confirmed by the Egyptian authorities.

Associated Press states that Mohammed al-Islambouli had left Egypt in the 1980s and was thought to have been connected with Osama bin Laden when fighting as Mujahideen in Afghanistan. Mohammed al-Hakayma had been a leader within the command structure of Jamaa Islamiya, but had not been at the top level.

More info on the history of Jamaa Islamiya can be found from Fas and from Janes Security.

Keywords: Gamaa Islamiya, Jamaa Islamiya, al-Gama'at al-Islamiyya, Zawahri, Zawahiri.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at August 5, 2006 11:55 PM

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