CAIRO — Sunni insurgents have used Egypt to recruit Muslims to fight
the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.
Egyptian security sources said Sunni insurgents linked to Al Qaida have
hired Muslim clerics to help recruit people to fight the U.S. military in
Iraq. The sources said the clerics received money to find recruits and fly
them to Syria.
The recruitment of Egyptians was said to have taken place in the coastal
city of Suez and Ismailiya. A group termed "Call and Holy War," or Da'awa
and Jihad, was formed to carry out the operation.
So far, Egyptian police arrested seven members of the group, Middle East Newsline reported. The
spiritual guide of the group was identified as Alaa Shawki, a local cleric.
At this point, the sources said, Egyptian authorities have not linked
Da'awa with the Al Qaida network in Iraq. That network has been led by Abu
Mussib Al Zarqawi, who has recruited fighters from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan,
Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Syria.
An attorney for the defendants denied the Egyptian charges. Attorney
Mamdouh Ismail termed Shawki a cleric who has cleared his sermons by the
state-supported Al Azhar Islamic academy.
Security sources said the defendants were captured in April 2005. They
said this was the second group that was found to have been recruiting
Egyptians for the war in Iraq.
