In a statement posted to its Facebook and Twitter pages today, the jihadist group Ajnad Misr (Soldiers of Egypt) claimed responsibility for a bombing attack yesterday evening that killed one Egyptian police officer and wounded three other people.
Yesterday’s attack in the Cairo area came a day after Ajnad Misr released a video about eight of its previous attacks.
In the new statement, Ajnad Misr also took credit for bombings in the Cairo area on April 10 and April 15. The group reiterated that it does not intend to harm civilians in its operations.
Meanwhile, in an audio message leaked yesterday, al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri said that the “Americanized” Egyptian army should be fought. “We bless every jihadi operation against the Zionists and the Americanized army that protects their borders and the criminal of the Interior, and fights the American interests that assault the Muslims,” Zawahiri stated.
According to Zawahiri, such operations must “comply with the Shariah disciplines by avoiding the inviolable blood and sanctities.” Zawahiri further said that those fighting today “need a popular base of support and to preach at a level equivalent to the battlefield,” according to a summary by the SITE Intelligence Group.
Ajnad Misr
Ajnad Misr, which formally announced itself on Jan. 23, 2014, has said it is engaged in a campaign to target “criminal” elements of Egypt’s current regime. The group has taken credit for at least 14 attacks since November, according to a tally maintained by The Long War Journal. Several of those attacks were claimed in a statement released on April 2, in which the jihadist group took credit for bombings at Cairo University as well as attacks on March 4, March 11, and March 29 in the Cairo area.
Ajnad Misr, which has been described as “our brothers” by the Sinai-based jihadist group Ansar Jerusalem (Ansar Bayt al Maqdis), has said that it is prepared to receive “information about the movements of the officers and personnel of the criminal services, and their addresses.”
According to the group, its operatives have aborted or altered certain operations out of concern for civilians in the area.
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