The Egyptian Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (Supporters of Jerusalem) jihadist group came to the fore following the ouster of the president, Muhammad Morsi, on July 3. The group has claimed responsibility for a range of attacks on army and police facilities and figures, including an assassination attempt of the interior minister. Security forces have hunted down the group's members in Sinai and elsewhere to curb its operations and restore stability in Sinai. Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis is used to bragging about its purported bombings and assassinations by releasing statements on jihadist forums and posting videos on YouTube. The group is active in the eastern border areas of Sheikh Zuwayid and Rafah in Northern Sinai. Anti-terror experts widely believe that it has some affiliates in the Sinai Peninsula, including the Al-Nusrah Battalion and the Al-Furqan Brigades.
Beginning
Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis started its operations in Sinai immediately after the January 2011 uprising that forced president Hosni Mubarak to resign on 11 February 2011. It started by blowing up a pipeline that exports gas to Israel and Jordan. In a YouTube video dated 24 July 2012 the group showed how they prepared and attacked the pipeline. According to Al-Jama'ah al-Islamiyah (Islamic Group), which renounced violence in late 1990s, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis emerged after the January 2011uprising when Palestinian militants joined the Sinai-based Al-Tawhid wa al-Jihad (Monotheism and Jihad) group and formed a unified body called Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis. In August 2012, the group said it fired two Grad rockets from Sinai into the southern Israeli resort of Aqaba. It also claimed responsibility for attacking an Israeli border patrol on September 23, 2012 in response to a US-produced film that was widely condemned across the Muslim world as having insulted the Prophet Muhammad. But following Morsi's ouster by the army and the forceful dispersal of his supporters on August 14, the group shifted to attacking army and police facilities and figures. Since then, the crackdown on Morsi's supporters has been in full swing.
Timeline
Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis has been involved in car bombings, drive-by shooting, suicide bombings and has released statements and videos of its attacks. The following are some of the major attacks claimed by the group. The Al-Furqan Brigades, affiliated to Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, claimed responsibility for assassinating an army commander identified as Col Muhammad al-Kumi on August 14 and posted a video on YouTube in September of the drive-by shooting operation. The group also said it was behind a failed attempt on the life of Interior Minister Muhammad Ibrahim on September 5 and then released a video of the car bomb that targeted the minister's motorcade in Cairo's eastern suburb of Nasr City. It further said it was responsible for an attack that rocked south Sinai's Security Directorate on October 7, which left one person dead and 22 others injured. In a YouTube video on November 20, the group revealed the identity of the attacker as Abu-Hajar Muhammad Himdan al-Sawarka. The group attacked a military intelligence building in the Suez Canal city of Al-Isma'iliyah (northeast of Cairo) on October 19. It claimed responsibility for the suicide bomb attack in a video on YouTube two days later. On November 19, the group said it gunned down police Lt Col Muhammad Mabruk in Cairo two days earlier. Mr Mabruk was in charge of investigating Muslim Brotherhoods' affairs in the National Security Service. The authorities said he was shot dead with 12 bullets. The group said in a statement posted on a jihadist website that the killing of Mr Mabruk was the first of "our operations which aim at freeing the female prisoners from the hands of the tyrants". This was in reference to some female MB members who were arrested during recent protests. In a news conference on November 23, Interior Minister Muhammad Ibrahim described the bombings claimed by the armed groups as the "most dangerous terrorist campaign experienced by the homeland".
Palestinian, Brotherhood links
Many observers, including Al-Jama'ah al-Islamiyah, believe that Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis is linked to Palestinian armed groups. Since it has intensified attacks on the army and police following Morsi's overthrow, some observers link the armed group to the MB and Palestinian militant groups, especially the Hamas Movement. Brotherhood Without Violence, a recently-formed movement which includes alleged MB dissidents, claim that Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis is the "military wing" of the MB and is being run by the MB acting guide Mahmud Izzat to carry out "terrorist attacks" against military and political figures. Former jihadist Nabil Na'im accused the Palestinian group Hamas of having links with Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, saying the group has two branches; one in Gaza and the other in Sinai. He accused the MB and Hamas of funding the group. Na'im also accused Hamas of training members of Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis.
Crackdown
Since the downfall of Morsi, army and police forces have been cracking down on the hotbeds of militant groups in Sinai, especially in the safe haven of Jabal al-Halal in the north. Military Spokesman Col Muhammad Ahmad Ali announces these operations on his official Facebook page, where he lists the arms and ammunitions seized, the number of "terrorists" and "takfiris" killed and arrested, and the tunnels demolished. On November 2, security sources told privately-owned Al-Shuruq al-Jadid daily that security forces managed to "decode" the group's communications. On November 22, the Interior Ministry announced the arrest of the group's leader. He was identified as Shadi al-Munay'i in Sinai and was said to be the "prime suspect" in the Taba and Sharm al-Sheikh bombings in 2004. In a news conference on November 23, the interior minister announced the arrest of five leaders of the group; namely, Muhammad Rabi al-Zawahiri, Dawud Khayri Abu-Shanab, Mustafa Ahmad Hasan Hamzah, Murjan Mustafa Salim Murjan and Muhammad Al-Sayid Hijazi.
