Sunday, January 23, 2011

Gaza not impressed by Egyptian accusations about Gazan involvement in New Year's bombing in Alex

Egyptian Interior Minister Habib al-Adly on Sunday said that a group in Gaza which according to him is linked to Al-Qaeda was behind the suicide bombing that killed 24 Christians and wounded about 100 outside a church in Alexandria on New Years' eve. Al-Adly said 'conclusive evidence' showed that the somewhat shadowy 'Army of Islam' was behind the planning and execution of the attack, which sparked three days of Coptic rioting in Cairo and several other cities.
The Army of Islam itself denied the accusations and said they were false.

The Hamas movement in Gaza called on Egyptian authorities to provide evidence  of the alleged role  of the Army of Islam. Hamas said it was ready to cooperate fully with Egyptian authorities if it provides evidence for the group’s involvement. Hamas spokesman Taher al-Nunu said his government was willing to cooperate with its Egyptian counterpart to identify the culprits behind the attack. Al-Nunu reiterated that the Gaza Strip is free of Al-Qaeda activists, and he assured that Palestinian organizations and resistance movements 'point their weapons towards the Zionist enemy alone'.
In fact the Egyptian minister did not give any evidence that Gazan groups were involved. It would not be the first time that the so called results of Egyptian investigations would be based on nothing but the flimsiest of evidence or will even lack evidence altogether. It will be interesting to see with what the Egyptians will come up to substantiate their accusations.

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