Leader of al-Qaida-inspired group killed in Sinai

Police in Egypt today killed the leader of an al-Qaida-inspired militant group who was wanted for last month’s Sinai bombings that killed 21 people.

Nasser Khamis el-Mallahi, the head of Egypt’s Monotheism and Jihad, was shot dead and his accomplice captured in a gun battle in an olive grove this morning, said the commander of North Sinai security police, Lieutenant General Essam el-Sheikh.

“This is a major blow to the terrorist group,” el-Sheikh said. Hundreds of security officers were later seen celebrating the success in front of the security police headquarters, chanting “Allahu Akbar”, or god is great.

The killing of the militant group leader came a day after Israel warned its citizens to stay away from the Sinai, a popular destination with Israeli tourists, because of an “increased threat of kidnapping of Israeli citizens on the Sinai coast”.

El-Sheikh said security forces surrounded the olive grove in el-Karama district, south of El-Arish, after receiving a tip that el-Mallahi and his accomplice were hiding there. Bedouin scouts had also reported that tracks of two suspects led into the grove.

The gun battle lasted a little over 30 minutes. El-Sheikh said the accomplice, Mohammed Abdullah Abu Grair, was captured after running out of ammunition. He was not wounded.

Police found automatic rifles and hand-grenades that failed to detonate.

El-Mallahi, 30, was wanted for the three bombs that detonated almost simultaneously in the Red Sea resort of Dahab on April 24 in which 21 people were killed. He was married to a Palestinian and had three children, police said.

His group, Monotheism and Jihad, has also been accused of carrying out the attacks in the Sinai resorts of Taba and Ras Shitan in October 2004 and in Sharm el-Sheikh in July 2005.

Sinai-based militants have carried out three major attacks on the Peninsula’s tourist resorts during the past two years, killing about 120 people in total.

Egyptian authorities are at pains to say the attacks were the work of local groups that have no ties to outside terrorist organisations, apparently concerned about damaging the tourism industry.

The precise al-Qaida links of the various terrorist groups operating under the name Monotheism and Jihad are not clear. The groups are inspired by Osama bin Laden, whose goal is an Islamic caliphate throughout the Muslim world.

The leader of the Iraqi version of Monotheism and Jihad, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, changed the name of his group to al-Qaida in Iraq after swearing allegiance to bin Laden.

However, he is not believed to carry out attacks on the specific orders of bin Laden. The same is believed to be the case with other, less well-known groups, such as Monotheism and Jihad in Egypt.