Egypt says Palestinians aided Sinai bombers
Two Palestinians helped fund and train members of an Egyptian terrorist group blamed for bombings in Sinai, authorities said today.
An Egyptian Interior Ministry statement said a Palestinian it named as Abu Suleiman provided the Egyptian group with money. Another Palestinian, identified by the statement as Maged al-Deri, trained members of the group in the use of explosives and firearms in the Gaza Strip.
The statement described Abu Suleiman and al-Deri as Muslim extremists, but did not elaborate. A third Palestinian, Tamer al-Nasserat, was planning to come to Egypt to carry out attacks, it said.
It was the first time that Egypt made such a specific link between the Sinai bombings – which killed 120 people, including foreigners, and targeted tourist installations – to militant Palestinians in the Gaza strip.
Authorities have in the past spoken vaguely of ties between the bombings, one of which claimed 11 Israeli lives, and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in neighbouring Gaza.
Three major attacks have rocked the Sinai Peninsula since October 2004. Egyptian authorities have said all attacks were carried out by a group calling itself Monotheism and Jihad and led by Nasser Khamis el-Mallahi.
Today’s statement said el-Mallahi had sent for training the three suicide bombers who carried out bombings last month in the Sinai resort of Dahab.
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