Special to WorldTribune.com

CAIRO — Egypt has reported an Al Qaida plot against a foreign embassy, said by officials to be that of the United States.

The Interior Ministry said security forces captured three suspected Al
Qaida operatives in the Cairo area. The ministry said the cell planned to
conduct a suicide bombing on the foreign embassy, later identified as that
of the United States.

“The Interior Ministry was able to direct a qualitative blow to a
terrorist cell that was planning suicide operations against vital, important
and foreign facilities in the country,” Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim said.

At a news conference on May 11, Ibrahim said three alleged cell members
were arrested and interrogated. The minister said the Al Qaida suspects,
trained in Iran and Pakistan, possessed 10 kilograms of chemicals, including aluminum nitrate, used in the making of bombs. Police were also said to have found a computer manual published by Al Qaida Organization in the Islamic Maghreb.

Officials identified the detainees as Amr Abu Al El Aqida, Mohammed
Hameida Saleh and Mohammed Bayouni. They said the three suspects were ordered by an Al Qaida commander in Pakistan, identified as Daoud Al Assadi,
to contact another insurgency cell in Cairo.

“Security forces arrested members of a terrorist cell planned a suicide
attack on the embassy of Western and other targets in the country,” Ibrahim
said.

This marked the second Islamist plot reported by the Islamist government
of President Mohammed Morsi over the last eight months. In April, Egypt
adjourned the trial of the so-called Nasser City cell, 26 Islamist
defendants, including two former military officers, charged with planning
attacks against the regime. Officials said the three detainees were linked
to the Nasser City group.

Officials said the latest cell was linked to Al Qaida in Central Asia
and Turkey. They said members were believed to have been directed by Al
Qaida-aligned militias in Syria.

“They were elements responsible for receiving terrorist elements on the
Turkish borders,” Ibrahim said.

  Al Qaida manual, aluminum nitrate, Daoud Al Assadi, Egypt: Cell plotting to bomb U.S. embassy had explosives, Mohammed Ibrahim, Mohammed Morsi