Egypt arrests Sinai militants believed responsible for Eilat attack
Egypt detains 2 from group accused of Eilat attack
Ma’an News
14.11.11
EL-ARISH, Egypt – Egyptian authorities on Monday detained two members of a militant Islamist group in Sinai, a day after arresting the movement’s leader, security officials told Ma’an.
Security forces detained Abdul Kareem Mohammad Ahmad, 42, and Ahmad Salem Mahmoud Awad, 33, in El-Arish, a town in north Sinai.
They are members of the Jihadists and Takfiris movement, whose leader Muhammad Eid Musleh Hamad — also known as Muhammad al-Teehi — was detained on Sunday, Egyptian officials said.
Security officials told Ma’an that Egyptian police were sweeping the Sinai Peninsula to arrest militants, adding that the detainees have been sent to Cairo for interrogation.
Al-Teehi is accused of planning a deadly attack in southern Israel in August which killed eight Israelis, as well as a number of attacks in the Sinai Desert, a Ma’an correspondent reported.
Israel blamed the attack in Eilat on the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees and struck back at southern Gaza within hours killing five PRC militants and a two-year-old child. The strike sparked four days of intense cross border violence that killed 15 Palestinians and wounded dozens more.
The Jihadists and Takfiris movement is also suspected of involvement in a series of pipeline bombings in Sinai which have cut off the supply of gas to Jordan and Israel several times this year, the official MENA agency reported.
Popular Resistance Committee: Iran’s “Terror Sub-Contractor” in the Gaza Strip
Press release, IDF
21.08.11
While the State of Israel is mourning the murders of eight of its citizens, including that of 22-year-old Staff Sergeant Moshe Naftali, this Thursday it is an appropriate moment to note the perpetrators of this multi-pronged attack the Popular Resistance Committees, or PRC.
The PRC was founded in September 2000, the same month in which a brutal terror war (sometimes known as the “Second Intifada”) was launched that claimed more than a thousand Israeli lives. Categorically refusing any form of reconciliation with Israel, the PRC acts as a sub-contractor for Iranian elements in Lebanon and within the Hezbollah, carrying out terror attacks against Israelis in return for funds.
The PRC is also funded and supported directly by Hamas. By allowing the PRC to operate as an ostensibly independent proxy, Hamas is able to cause terror attacks against Israelis while maintaining an official stance of “restraint”. In addition to monthly funding, Hamas also provides the PRC with weapons and battle training.
[The Press Release then lists 11 attacks carried out by the PRC beteen June 2009 and August 2011 in which three people were killed, 1 bus driver and 2 army officers.]