Egypt Denies Claim About Al Qaeda Base in Sinai
Charles Johnson
Tue Oct 11, 2005 at 8:47 am PDT • Views: 187
I’ve been cautious about lending credibility to reports of Al Qaeda establishing a presence in and around the Palestinian territories, but now we have good evidence that the story is accurate: Egypt is denying it.
CAIRO - An Egyptian security official denied on Monday claims by Israel’s military intelligence chief that the Al Qaeda network had established a base in the Sinai peninsula.
“There is absolutely no Al Qaeda base in the Sinai. We’ve made this point again and again,” said the Egyptian official who asked not to be named.
“We excluded from the start any link between the perpetrators of the Sinai bombings and Al Qaeda,” he added, referring to deadly attacks targeting tourist hotspots in the Sinai last October and this July.
General Aharon Zeevi was quoted by Israeli media as saying that Egyptian authorities were aware that an Al Qaeda base had been established on their soil but that they were wary of launching a full-frontal assault for fear of exacerbating tensions.
Frank says: