Egypt’s Interior Ministry today announced that security forces killed a key suspect in the Jan. 24 car bombing outside the Cairo Security Directorate. According to the ministry’s statement, Mohamed al Sayed Mansour al Toukhi was killed during a shootout with authorities in Cairo’s Ain Shams district.
The statement described al Toukhi, also known as Abu Obaida, as “one of the most dangerous terrorist elements.”
The killing of al Toukhi comes a day after the Interior Ministry announced the arrest of Mohammed Durri Ahmad al Taliawi. Al Taliawi was allegedly involved in a bombing attack that killed one person outside a movie theater on Jan. 24 in the Cairo area.
Four separate bombings, including the car bombing outside the Cairo Security Directorate, were reported on Jan. 24. Ansar Jerusalem (Ansar Bayt al Maqdis) originally claimed responsibility for all of the bombings before later backtracking on some of the smaller attacks that had been claimed by a separate group called Ajnad Misr.
Ansar Jerusalem has yet to comment on the reported death of al Toukhi or the arrest of al Taliawi. Ansar Jerusalem last confirmed the death or arrest of one of its members in a statement released to jihadist forums on Jan. 2.
Meanwhile, four suspected al Qaeda members were referred to trial yesterday over their involvement in plots to carry out attacks in Egypt, including against the US and French embassies. The arrest of three members of the cell, which has been linked to the Nasr City terror cell, was announced by Egypt’s interior minister in May 2013.
The fourth member of the cell, Dawud al Asadi, is still free.
In May 2013, Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim described Asadi vaguely as “the head of Al-Qaeda in some west Asian countries.” As my colleague Thomas Joscelyn has previously noted, Dawud al Asadi is a known alias of Muhsin al Fadhli, the head of al Qaeda’s network in Iran.
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