Egypt arrests suspects in assassination attempt of official, church bombing

Egyptian Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim said on Monday that the government has arrested 27 people suspected of involvement in an attempt to assassinate him last month.

Ibrahim told a press conference in Cairo that those arrested were affiliated with Ansar Beit al-Muqadas, based in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula.

The group were also involved in a church bombing in the capital last week, in addition to other terrorist attacks in the country.

Meanwhile, judicial sources said they were continuing to investigate a claim by posting online by the Ansar Beit al-Muqadas that ex-Egyptian army officer Waleed Badr carried out the suicide bombing last month in the assassination attempt on the interior minister.

Judicial sources said that it had ordered forensic authorities to take a blood sample from a member of Badr’s family to match it with fragments of the man who carried out attempt.

Matching the sample had been undertaken more than 10 days before Ansar Beit al-Muqadas circulated a video in which it announced that Badr carried out the attack, said judicial sources.

Also on Monday, security forces in Giza, south of Egypt’s capital, raided the houses of two people suspected to be behind the church bombing.

Security forces plan to arrest some of the suspects by setting up ambushes in different areas of the country and monitoring the movements of others thought to be involved in the group.

Authorities are also investigating the files of several armed members who were released by the country’s ousted leader Mohammad Mursi when he became president.