Posted on 01/31/2015 7:35:48 AM PST by DeaconBenjamin
An Egyptian court on Saturday banned the armed wing of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, declaring it a "terrorist" group, a judiciary official said.
Since Egypt's military ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, the authorities have accused Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, of aiding jihadists who have increased their attacks on security forces in the Sinai Peninsula.
Saturday's court verdict followed a complaint from a lawyer accusing the Hamas armed wing of direct involvement in "terrorist operations" in the Sinai, a court official said.
The lawyer also accused the movement of using tunnels under the border between Egypt and Gaza to smuggle arms used in attacks against the police and army, the official said.
Egypt's military says it has destroyed more than 1,600 tunnels since Morsi's ouster.
In early January, Egypt began work on doubling the width of a buffer zone along the border with Gaza to prevent militants infiltrating from the enclave.
The buffer zone was created following a suicide bombing on October 24 last year that killed 30 Egyptian soldiers and wounded scores.
In the latest incident in the region, an Egyptian interior ministry employee was killed a day after jihadists aligned with the Islamic State (IS) group killed 30 people in the peninsula.
The 50-year-old was shot in the head in his home in North Sinai provincial capital of El-Arish late Friday, the officials said.
Jihadists in the Sinai have killed scores of policemen and soldiers since Morsi's overthrow, vowing revenge against a crackdown on his supporters that has killed more than 1,400 people.
(Excerpt) Read more at en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com ...
Damn dirty Islamophobes.
Did someone tell Obama?
I’d take Sisi for our president. He’s that rare muslim who’s head is screwed on right.
I’d like to see Israel open up talks with Egypt and Jordan.
Now that’s really going to make them mad. Why they just might act out ....
I believe Egypt still has a little class left over from the pyramid days.
One can fall only so far?
They already have full diplomatic relations with Egypt and Jordan. Obama is a mutual headache for all of them.
Obama sees Hamas as his friends, and he wants them to have cabinet positions in the White House. Meanwhile Obama despises Israel. Obama seems to always side and cozy up to radical Islam
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