Egyptian militants deny al-Qaida link

A leader of an Egyptian militant group denied yesterday that it had joined al-Qaida, saying the majority of its members are sticking by a truce they declared almost a decade ago.

“Al-Gamaa al-Islamiya is strong and solid and not affected at all by nonsense here or there,” Karam Zohdy, one of the group’s most senior leaders, said on Al-Jazeera news network. “What Ayman al-Zawahri has said is sheer fabrication and lying.”