|
 "If his intention was jihad, I hope God accepts his deed," said
Abdel Raouf's wife, dressed head-to-toe in black with only her eyes
visible behind a conservative Islamic face veil as she spoke at
their family home in Cairo.
The story of the father and son from a working-class neighborhood of
Cairo offers a glimpse into the militant threat facing Egypt, which
has increased dramatically since the army overthrew Muslim
Brotherhood President Mohamed Mursi last year.
The pair were members of the group spearheading Islamist attacks in
Egypt, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, according to both the authorities and a
statement from the organization.
Abdel Raouf, 38, had fought alongside Islamists in the Syrian civil
war. His son, radicalized by the state's bloody crackdown on
Islamists that followed Mursi's overthrow last year, was a much
newer convert.
They symbolize the growing complexity of a problem that will face
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former army chief who became Egypt's de
facto leader when he deposed Mursi. Sisi is expected to win a
presidential election in May.
Armed groups are drawing in both established militants, such as
Abdel Raouf, and the recently radicalized, such as his son.
Their reach has extended well beyond the Sinai Peninsula — birthplace of Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis — to the capital. At least four
members of the cell targeted on March 19 came from the same Cairo
neighborhood.
"You are not talking about long-standing or known organizations,"
said Khalil al-Anani, an expert on Islamist movements at Johns
Hopkins University in the United States.
"We are talking about the third generation of radical jihadists that
emerged from the Arab Spring," he said. "This is a generation that
nobody has control over."
FROM HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT TO "MARTYR"
Abdel Raouf and his son died on March 19 when the security forces
stormed their bomb-making factory in Qalyoubia province, just north
of Cairo, killing a total of six militants. Two army officers also
died in the five-hour long operation.
The authorities say it was a major blow to Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, the
group behind some of the biggest attacks of the last nine months,
including a failed attempt to kill the interior minister and large
bomb attacks on police stations.
Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, or Supporters of Jerusalem, issued a statement
naming the "martyrs" killed that day. They included Abdel Raouf, an
oil industry technician, and his son, the similarly named Abdel
Raouf Fahmy Abdel Raouf.
The boy had vanished in January after sitting his end-of-term exams.
"I was surprised and shocked," said the wife and mother, a woman in
her 30s who declined to give her full name during an interview
at the modest family home in the al-Matariya district of northeast
Cairo. She heard of their deaths on TV.
Both the authorities and Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis said the elder Abdel
Raouf had fought in Syria, along with another member of his cell
from the same Cairo neighborhood in the city's northeast.
According to officials, Abdel Raouf had also undergone training in
the Gaza Strip. His role in Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis had included
reconnoitering police facilities, they said, speaking on condition
of anonymity because they were not permitted to talk to the media.
His wife described her husband as a God-fearing man who spoke little
of politics and traveled a lot for work.
Asked about his links to the Syrian war and Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis,
she challenged the government to prove his involvement, although she
did not deny the claims.
She had taken note of the Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis statement announcing
the deaths, memorizing a reference to her son as "a cub of that lion
who had insisted on waging holy struggle with his father".
One of her three surviving children, an infant daughter, sat beside
her as she candidly set out her view of events. "The war is a war on
religion," she said.
The police had been hunting her husband for months.
When Abdel Raouf's wife and sister visited his mother in hospital in
February, security agents forced them to remove their face veils in
case he had come in disguise, they said.
"HE NEVER LIKED" THE BROTHERHOOD
Abdel Raouf appeared to have been on the police radar for years. He
was tortured in deposed autocrat Hosni Mubarak's era, his family
said. His mother recalled a time he returned home unable to hold a
cup of tea. He said his tormentors had shocked him with electrodes
on his tongue.
After Mubarak was toppled by a popular uprising in 2011 and the
Islamist Mursi elected the following year, the police left Abdel
Raouf alone. But he found no satisfaction in Muslim Brotherhood
rule. He viewed the mainstream group as too soft on Islam and said
they were promoting "half religion". "He never liked them," his wife said.
[to top of second column] |
When the military removed Mursi after a year in office following
mass protests against his rule, Abdel Raouf told his family to avoid
protest camps set up by Brotherhood supporters demanding his
reinstatement, his family said.
Nevertheless, one of Abdel Raouf's brothers was among the hundreds
of people killed on August 14 when security forces used overwhelming
force to destroy those camps.
The authorities say Abdel Raouf's brother was shot in clashes with
the security forces that day. His family say he was killed while
collecting his family from across town. It was after burying his
brother two days later that Abdel Raouf disappeared. His wife
recalled his last words as: "God will give the people the ruler they
deserve."
The day of his brother's funeral, August 16, saw violent mass
protests in which a further 120 people were killed, including two
police officers. The authorities say Abdel Raouf participated in
attacks on the security forces. His family says he wasn't there.
It was also a turning point for Abdel Raouf's son. After his uncle's
death, the 13-year old began taking part in protests against the
government for the first time.
"He would say: 'This is utter injustice,'" his mother said.
Locals tell a similar story about another of the militants from
Matariya killed on March 19. Outside the house where he lived, a
banner honors him as "the martyr" Mohamed Sayid.
Neighbors say he, too, became radicalized in the demonstrations that
followed the storming of the camps, having never before shown signs
of extremism or political affiliations.
"He was just like us. He'd go to weddings, smoke cigarettes and was
not religious or anything like that," said one youth, part of a
group standing nearby.
Another, referring to Ramses Square where the August 16 protests
took place, said: "What caused all of this was that he went out in
the protest at the time of Ramses. One of his friends died, and that
was that."
"LOOSE COORDINATION"
Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis emerged in North Sinai in 2011, taking root in
the security vacuum that emerged after Mubarak's downfall. Its
initial target was Israel. The group blew up a pipeline for
exporting gas to Israel and fired rockets at the southern Israeli
resort of Eilat.
But since last summer, its focus has switched to the Egyptian state.
The group has claimed responsibility for attacks that have
contributed to a death toll of more than 500, mostly police and
soldiers. In January, it shot down an army helicopter in Sinai,
where the military is trying to crush the militants.
"It looks to a great extent like individual cells crop up and there
may be some very loose coordination with other elements of 'the
organization', or communication with figures outside — whether, it's
al Qaeda, or some of the extremist organizations in Libya, for
example," said a Western diplomat.
The United States has designated Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis a terrorist
group, citing attacks including one that killed three South Korean
tourists in Sinai in February.
Egypt also accuses the Brotherhood of a role in the violence and
declared it a terrorist group after a suicide attack on a police
station claimed by Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis. However, Western countries
say they are unconvinced by Cairo's assertions that the mainstream
Brotherhood is tied to the militants.
"We continue to see no data supporting the claim of organizational
links between ABM and the Muslim Brotherhood," said the diplomat,
using an acronym for Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis.
The Brotherhood, Egypt's biggest party until last summer, has
denounced the violence. But by banning the Brotherhood, the
government risks pushing more people deeper underground and into the
arms of those who embrace the shedding of blood.
Anani of Johns Hopkins University said: "Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis has
growing appeal among disenchanted Islamists."
"It is not easy to chase these young radicals."
(Writing by Tom Perry; editing by Michael Georgy and Peter Graff)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
