Recent Bombing Illustrates Growing Network of Muslim Brotherhood

Thursday evening, 7 policemen and 3 civilians were killed in an explosion after Giza police forces unsuccessfully defused a bomb. Police forces were raiding an apartment that had been reportedly housing terrorists associated with the Muslim Brotherhood. The explosion also injured another 13 people.

While security forces stated they were searching for Muslim Brotherhood members, two separate Islamic terrorist organizations have claimed responsibility for the bombing, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (ABM) and Revolutionary Punishment. ABM has aligned itself with the Islamic State (IS) and now identifies as the Islamic State in the Sinai (ISS).

As mentioned in an earlier blog, ISS has been a major enemy of the el-Sisi government since he ousted the Muslim Brotherhood from power in Egypt. ISS has also been trading missile materials to Hamas, the branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine that currently rules Gaza. The Muslim Brotherhood and ABM share a common goal of destabilizing the el-Sisi government.

The organization Revolutionary Punishment is relatively new to the scene, established in 2015, but Egyptian security forces believe that they are members of the Muslim Brotherhood. The group is comprised primarily of young members who have continued attacks on police and security forces around the country.

Both ISS and Revolutionary Punishment provide cover for the Muslim Brotherhood to take advantage of violence targeting the Egyptian government without having to appear responsible. When its members are blamed for acts of terror the Muslim Brotherhood deflects blame onto one of those other groups.

Ahram Online, an Egyptian news outlet, reported that Egyptian security forces have raided a number of apartments in recent weeks to arrest suspected Muslim Brotherhood followers. Most of the raids have ended with gunfire that has left the suspect dead.

The Muslim Brotherhood has incited numerous terrorist attacks in Egypt for years, yet many in the United States government would call them moderates. The White House has said they see no sign that the group has renounced its “commitment” to non-violence even after they were declared a terrorist organization by Egypt in 2013.

Outside of Egypt, Israel has even banned the Muslim Brotherhood for inciting violence and attempting to establish a caliphate. Israel not only has to battle with the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, MB’s branch in Israel, but also MB’s branch in Gaza, Hamas.

The Muslim Brotherhood has shown few signs of committing to non-violence. After Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi was removed from power by General Abdel Fatah el-Sisi, the organization has been committed to attacking government forces to remove el-Sisi.

13 Muslim Brotherhood members were arrested and executed this past July, and the Brotherhood has been increasingly unruly since. The Muslim Brotherhood claims the killing of the suspected terrorists was unjustified, and has since called for uprisings in the country to dispose of el-Sisi. Just days after the 13 members were put to death, Muslim Brotherhood supporters and Egyptian security forces exchanged fire in Cairo. The skirmish left 5 dead. The fighting did not end there, however. On January 7, 2016 Muslim Brotherhood supporters and Egyptian security forces again clashed outside a hotel. No one was killed or injured, but this incident again proves how uneasy the situation in Egypt is currently.

The Muslim Brotherhood has a well-established history of using violence when it believes it will be beneficial, and deniable. In 1954, one of their most notorious attacks, the Muslim Brotherhood attempted to assassinate then President Gamal Abdel Nasser and a Brotherhood “offshoot” successfully assassinated Anwar Sadat in 1981. In 1979, the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood was responsible for killing 83 cadets at a Syrian Artillery Academy in Aleppo, Syria. Then in 2002 it was suspected the Muslim Brotherhood participated in a truck bombing in Grozny that killed 40 and wounded another 152.

Recently, Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood analyst Eric Trager reported that Muslim Brotherhood leader Shmed Al-Mogheer called abandoning terrorism “a mistake” and called for a return to terror.

The Egyptian Interior Ministry has been preparing for the January 25^th celebrations, and possible protests formed by the Muslim Brotherhood. With their current anger from the killing of the 13 supporters coupled with ties to ISS and the Revolutionary Punishment, it is not surprising Egyptian security forces would increase security for the 25^th.