An Egyptian court sentenced 12 alleged Islamic State sympathisers to death on Thursday after convicting them of plotting attacks against police and troops in Egypt.

A key defendant in the case, Khaled Maghawry, is accused of “recruiting youths and sending them to Syria and Iraq to receive training [on jihadism] and how to use weapons.”

Six of the defendants are being tried in absentia while the rest are behind bars.

The court convicted them of “carrying out attacks on police and the military in Egypt” and joining the Islamic State group, which has seized large parts of Syria and Iraq and is expanding its presence in Libya.

Under Egyptian law, capital cases should be forwarded to the grand mufti, one of the country’s most senior figures, for consultation. His opinion, however, is not binding.

The court, in the northern governorate of Sharqiya, has set 12 September for a final ruling, which can still be appealed.

Egypt has been battling an Islamist insurgency in recent years, with numbers of attacks increasing dramatically since the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

The violence has mainly targeted police forces and the military, and is spearheaded by a militant group called Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis which swore allegiance to the Islamic State last year.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/139071/Egypt/Politics-/Egyptian-court-sentences–supporters-of-Islamic-St.aspx

Prime minister Abdullah Thinni has once again accused Qatar and Turkey of trying to force political Islam on an unwilling Libya, whose voters widely ignored candidates sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood in the June 2014 election.

In an interview with the Russian publication Sputnik  Thinni said: “There are states wishing to impose political Islam on us. Turkey and Qatar, for example, are attempting to impose it on Libya despite the people’s rejection.”

Thinni however made a point of saying that he was not opposed, as such, to the existence of Islamic political movements. Other parties could work with them as an integral part of the Libyan political landscape.  But he warned against political Islam seeking complete dominance.

“Qatar and Turkey have had that experience in Egypt,” he said, “where they strongly supported the Muslim Brotherhood”

In the interview datelined Tobruk, Thinni told Sputnik that the government wanted outside airstrikes on IS positions, not on its political rivals. It did not consider such foreign intervention to be a violation of Libya’s sovereignty.

Thinni also renewed his plea for the outside world to provide arms and ammunition to his internationally-recognised government. “The international community helped us overthrow the [Qaddafi] regime, but has not helped in building a new state” he said.

https://www.libyaherald.com/2015/08/27/thinni-tells-russians-he-needs-arms-and-airstrikes-against-is/

Twice in a week Egyptians began the day with news of bombs targeting security personnel. The first was in the early hours of last Thursday when a massive car bomb was detonated in front of a National Security building in the North Cairo district of Shubra Al-Kheima. Three days later, early on Monday morning, a roadside explosive device was detonated in Al-Beheira governorate as a police bus was passing.  It claimed the lives of three, and injured 27.

Sinai-based Islamic State (IS), previously known as Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, claimed responsibility for the Shubra Al-Kheima attack, positing a statement saying “soldiers of the caliphate” had carried out the attack “to avenge the execution of our martyrs”.

Following the explosion the Interior Ministry issued a statement saying the perpetrator had been caught on security cameras parking the booby-trapped vehicle and then fleeing the scene on a motorcycle. The prosecutor-general’s office later added that the bomb was hidden inside the bed of a white pickup truck and exploded shortly after its driver parked the vehicle next to the National Security building and then sped off on a motorcycle that had followed the truck.

The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights condemned the bombing as “an horrific terrorist attack”. It also drew attention to the need for improved information gathering techniques to prevent the reoccurrence of such crimes and called for decisive action from the state to counter attacks that threaten security and public safety.

Terrorist attacks in Egypt have claimed the lives of hundreds of security personnel since July 2013. IS is at the forefront of militant groups launching attacks against security targets since Mohamed Morsi’s ouster.

In its annual report, published on 31 May, the National Council of Human Rights (NCHR) said 2,600 people had died since the ouster of Mohamed Morsi. The casualties include 800 security personnel.

Security experts argue the latest attacks should not be seen as evidence of security failings.

“Security forces are working hard to secure vital installations. The task is made more problematic because it is impractical to prevent pedestrians or cars from passing these places,” says Major-General Talaat Mosallam.

On 11 July a car bomb detonated in front of the Italian Consulate in central Cairo, killing one passerby. Two weeks earlier Prosecutor-General Hisham Barakat was killed when a bomb targeted his convoy in Cairo. In December 2013 the security headquarters in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura, north of Cairo, was partly destroyed by a bomb and in January 2014 Cairo’s security directorate was targetted.

“The operational capacity of IS has been eroded by the army in Sinai,” says security expert Brigadier-General Khaled Okasha. “If anything the group’s last two operations in Cairo, the Italian Consulate and last week’s National Security bombings, which resulted in a low number of casualties, reflect this attrition.”

The Al-Beheira bombing has been claimed by the so-called Black Bloc. The group first appeared in Tahrir Square on 24 January 2013, ahead of the second anniversary of the 25 January Revolution, and appeared to consist of a mix of anarchists and hardcore football fans.

In its statement claiming “full and complete responsibility” for the attack the Black Bloc threatened more operations unless all detainees being held without charge are released.

In May the group claimed responsibility for several attacks in Ismailia and Giza, including the burning of five public transport buses. On Sunday the general-prosecutor ordered the detention of several alleged members of the group.

Okasha argues it is counterproductive to draw too fine a distinction between groups claiming responsibility for violent acts.

“IS plays a game of psychological war, ascribing its actions to other groups in an attempt to give the impression terrorist organisations are proliferating and recruiting more and more young people, which is not true,” he says.

Major-General Fouad Allam, former deputy head of National Security, warns that a security-only approach to countering terrorism is destined to fail. “Instead,” he says, “political, cultural, economic, informational, social, religious and security factors must all come in to play.”

“All concerned ministries and Al-Azhar must be included in the battle. Only then will we be able to counter the false beliefs that turn people towards extremism.”

“We tried to combat terrorism with a security alone approach for 40 years and it did not work. Only when we adopted a more holistic approach following the assassination of Anwar Al-Sadat did extremism gradually begin to disappear.”

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/13122/17/Security-strategies-.aspx

Internet, landline and Libyana mobile telephone communications have been cut between east, west and south Libya according to the Libyan Post, Telecommunications and Information Technology Holding Company because of damage to a cable at Sirte. Company sources allege that it was done deliberately yesterday by Islamic State (IS) forces in the town.

In a statement, the LPTIC said that as a result, services of Libyana, Almadar, Libya Telecom & Technology, and Libya Phone between east and west were not working. It added that other public and private  telecommunications services, including those of banks, were also likely to have affected.

The internet is still is working in Tripoli, as are phone calls within the three regions.  The internet was reported down in Torbuk and Benghazi.

LPTIC sources said that the situation was too dangerous for technicians to try and repair the break in the main dividers connecting the east and west Libya.  However, in its statement the company said that its crisis management team was trying to repair the damage.

Algerian army troops on Tuesday overnight killed a senior leader of an armed group linked to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), and his assistant in operation conducted in the province of Jijel, APS news agency reported Wednesday.

The senior leader militant is nicknamed Emir Nefla Noureddine, while his deputy is called Bouhnika Abdelouahab, and both joined the terrorist group in 1994.

This operation was “successfully” conducted thanks to “the exploitation of accurate tips,” and allowed to retrieve two Kalashnikov machine guns, a defensive grenade, six magazines and other items, the source specified.

The statement said the operation Tuesday was part of a wide scale dragging operation that is underway since the beginning of the week in the eastern part of the country, which resulted in killing five militants, so far.

The political dialogue among Libya’s rival factions is drawing to its final stages, the top UN envoy for the North African country said Wednesday.

Bernardino Leon said the talks had come a long way in narrowing the trust deficit among Libya’s political stakeholders.

“This has been a difficult and challenging process, but one that has proven increasingly resilient, despite repeated attempts by spoilers on all sides whose narrow interests and agendas dictate against a peaceful solution to the conflict in Libya,” he said as he briefed the Security Council via video-conference from Paris.

Libya’s political divisions have produced two rival seats of government in Tobruk and Tripoli, each with its own institutions and military, as the country descended into chaos since the end of Moammar Gaddafi’s decades-long rule in 2011.

The UN support mission in the country launched a political dialogue process in January that would end the country’s political crisis and military conflict.

Leon said the rival governments should grasp “the historic and unique opportunity” they have before them to be peacemakers.

“Time is running out. The onus is on Libya’s leaders on all sides, and at all levels, to make that final push towards peace,” he added.

The parties are expected to resume talks Thursday in Morocco.

http://www.albawaba.com/news/un-envoy-libyan-peace-talks-final-stages-735902