 | Not much detail in this first report from AP, but it sounds like a major bust. I bet all the perps 'cept the American get out of jail next Eid. |
Police have arrested an American, 11 Europeans and several others from Arab countries for allegedly plotting terrorist attacks in Middle Eastern countries including Iraq, the Interior Ministry said Monday. The group was part of an Islamic militant terror cell that had adopted extremist ideas and were living in Egypt under the guise of studying Arabic and Islamic studies, the ministry said in a statement.| Simple if well-armed and -financed students. |
Along with the American, police arrested two Belgians, nine French and several others from Egypt and other Arab countries including Tunisia and Syria, the statement said. The ministry did not provide names or say how many Egyptians and Arabs were arrested. "Investigations have confirmed that those elements are related to some terrorist organizations abroad," the ministry said. "They were seeking to recruit others, teach them destructive beliefs, urging them for jihad, traveling to Iraq to carry out operations via other countries in the region."
The U.S. Embassy in Cairo declined to comment about the arrests. Telephone messages left with the Belgium and French embassies were not immediately returned.| "We can say no more, neither." |
They were arrested about a week ago, and some had been studying at Al-Azhar University, Sunni Islam's most important seat of learning, police officials said. They spoke on condition on anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. It was not immediately clear if all the arrests took place in Cairo. All of the arrested were in jail pending further investigation, the ministry said.| And the story is not complete without a little editorializing from our betters at AP: |
Egypt operates under emergency laws, which gives the government wide powers to detain suspects without charging them. The laws have been in place since the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981 despite a growing chorus of opposition from both inside and outside the country. |