Special to WorldTribune.com

CAIRO — Egypt has reported the dismantling of three Al Qaida-aligned cells.

Officials said security forces captured insurgency cells that targeted police officers.

The officials said the cells included one aligned with Ajnad Misr, which emerged in January 2014.

“Police efforts resulted in the arrests of terrorist elements of these cells, which targeted security forces,” Egyptian Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim said.

Addressing a news conference on May 12, Ibrahim said one of the cells was headed by an Al Qaida-aligned operative. The minister said several senior Ajnad operatives linked to the assassination of a senior police officer in April were arrested near Cairo.

“Police arrested three leaders and four members of this group run by Ajnad Misr in the Giza province,” Ibrahim said. “They confessed to killing members of the army and police in a series of bombings, including one that killed a police brigadier-general near Cairo University.”

Two of the cells were accused of planning to attack the Egyptian Army,
police and government buildings. Officials linked the cells to the Muslim
Brotherhood.

Ibrahim said one of the cells was led by an Egyptian student who fought
in Syria for the Al Qaida-aligned rebel group Ahrar Al Sham. The minister
said the student, Abdullah Hesham, was financed by exiled Brotherhood
leaders in Qatar to attack state television in Cairo.

Ajnad has been linked to Ansar Beit Maqdis, deemed the most active
insurgency network in Egypt. Ibrahim said authorities have dismantled 40
cells and arrested 225 insurgents since April 2014.

  Ahrar Al Sham, Ajnad Misr, Ansar Beit Maqdis, Egypt rolls up terror cells that targeted police, Mohammed Ibrahim