posted
Egypt says Palestinians involved in Sinai attacks by Malak Labib Tue May 23, 9:06 AM ET
CAIRO (AFP) - Egypt for the first time revealed that Palestinian militants had taken part in planning suicide attacks that killed 20 people in the Sinai peninsula last month.
Several members of the Egyptian cell that carried out the bombings had trained in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian militants in Egypt were also involved, the interior ministry said in a statement.
The ministry, which has blamed a string of deadly attacks in the Sinai peninsula over the past two years on a group called Tawhid wal Jihad (Unification and Holy War), also said three Palestinian suspects were currently in Egyptian custody.
Tawhid wal Jihad leader "Nasser Khamis al-Mallahi sought to send those who perpetrated the Dahab attacks -- Ahmed Mohammed al-Koreimi, Mohammed Abdelaziz Nafei and Atallah al-Korm -- to Gaza for weapons handling and bomb-making training," it said.
Egyptian security had verified that at least two other members of the organisation -- brothers Ayman and Yusri Mohareb -- crossed into the Gaza Strip to prepare for the operation, the statement said.
They were part of a larger group that "had contacts with Palestinian (Islamic) fundamentalists", the interior ministry said, without confirming whether the bombers themselves had actually reached the Gaza Strip.
Twenty people were killed -- including several foreigners -- and 90 were wounded on April 24, when the three suicide bombings ripped through the popular Red Sea resort of Dahab during a peak holiday season.
According to Egyptian security sources, Mallahi was killed during a raid by police in Sinai earlier this month.
Some 70 people were also in multiple bombings against the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on July 23 last year and another 34 people died in attacks further up the Red Sea coast in October 2004.
The statement did not say whether the Palestinians involved in the attacks belonged to a specific group but named three Palestinian militants who financed their Egyptian counterparts and offered logistical support from Egypt.
A Palestinian named as "Abu Suleiman gave Yusri Mohareb 1,000 dollars, a telephone and an Israeli chip. The chip was found with his brother Munir when he was killed by the security forces."
The statement also said that another Palestinian, Maged ad-Deri "facilitated Yusri Mohareb's entry into the Palestinian territories and gave him training to prepare for the attacks."
The interior ministry named a third Palestinian, Tamer Nusseirat, who had volunteered to be one of the bombers and was in contact with Mallahi.
According to Egyptian security sources, the three Palestinians are in Egypt's custody.
The interior ministry said a total of seven suspects were killed and 22 others detained since security forces launched their manhunt in the Sinai peninsula following the attacks.
Security experts have suspected that cells linked to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network have been operating in the Gaza Strip, although Israeli and Palestinian officials have not provided confirmation.
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