In Egypt, ex-military team insurgency

CAIRO: A small but highly dangerous
succession of former Egyptian army officers
are joining Islamist militant groups,
complicating President Abdel Fattah al-
Sisi’s efforts to counter what he calls an
existential threat from extremism.

These men are raising the stakes in an
insurgency that has killed hundreds of
soldiers and police since the army toppled
Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in 2013.
They pose a danger to US ally Egypt with
their knowledge of the Arab world’s biggest
army, provide militants with training and
strategic direction, and even carry out
suicide bomb attacks against government
officials.

Since Mursi was ousted some officers have
joined the Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (ABM)
Islamist group and planned and participated
in attacks on the army and other facilities,
particularly in the Sinai, said Khalil al-Anani,
adjunct professor with the School of
Advanced International Studies at Johns
Hopkins University.

“We can’t talk about a mainstream or a large
scale defection towards extremism. We are
talking about individual cases that could
escape and find a safe haven in Sinai. Yet
their attacks are fatal and costly.” As former
army chief and head of military intelligence,
Sisi is well aware of the Islamist threat from
within the military.

A militant cell headed by army officers
Abboud al-Zomour and Khaled al-Islambouli
assassinated President Anwar Sadat in 1981.
Years later, former Egyptian army officer Seif
al-Adel rose to the top ranks of al Qaeda.
A senior Egyptian military official told
Reuters the defections were not a
phenomenon. “It is logical and normal that
we monitor deviant thinking. Any armed
forces must have loyalty and we take all the
measures needed against others. The
percentage is minimal ... you can count them
on one hand.”

An Egyptian military source said the army
has a unit that tracks anyone suspected of
harboring radical ideology.

“Yes there are individuals members of the
army who we discover possess extremist
religious thoughts. But their numbers are
very few. Maybe two or three in a class of
2,000.”
More than 200 people, including a handful of
former army and police officers, are on trial
for joining ABM.