IS claims deadly Cairo church bombing

CAIRO, Egypt -- The Islamic State group claimed responsibility on Tuesday for a bomb attack on a Cairo church that killed 25 people, the first claim for one of the worst attacks on the Coptic Christian community in recent memory.

IS identified the suicide bomber who carried out Sunday's attack by the pseudonym Abu Abdallah al-Masri in a statement circulated on social media on Tuesday.

The bomber "got in between the crowd" and detonated his explosive belt, the jihadist group said in the statement.

The group said it would continue attacks against "every infidel and apostate in Egypt, and everywhere."

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi named the suicide bomber as Mahmoud Shafik Mohamed Mostafa, 22, during a funeral for the victims on Monday.

Egyptian authorities are battling an Islamist insurgency led by an Egyptian affiliate of IS.

While most of the insurgents' attacks have mainly targeted police and military in northern Sinai province, the jihadists have also targeted security forces and government officials in Cairo.

The attacks have worsened since the July 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. The ouster was led by Sisi, who was defense minister at the time.

Following the deadly dispersal by security forces of two pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo in August 2013, mobs attacked more than 40 churches nationwide, as well as dozens of schools, houses and businesses belonging to Copts.

They pointed to the appearance of Coptic Pope Tawadros II next to Sisi in July 2013, when the then army chief -- also surrounded by Muslim and opposition figures -- announced Morsi's removal on television.

Sisi said Mostafa, the suspected suicide bomber, had detonated his explosive belt at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church, which is adjacent to Saint Mark's Cathedral, the seat of the Coptic pope.

The interior ministry said late on Monday that Mostafa had been identified by DNA tests from body parts which matched that of his family.

It also said Mostafa was working with a group that received logistical and financial support from Muslim Brotherhood members residing in Qatar.

The Muslim Brotherhood has denied any involvement with the incident.

Worst attack against Copts

The authorities have arrested four alleged members of this group, the interior ministry said.

They are still searching for others, including the suspected ringleader Mohab Mostafa el-Sayed Qassem, also known as "The Doctor," the ministry said.

Qassem travelled to Qatar in 2015 where he met some Brotherhood leaders who had fled Egypt, it claimed.

There, they offered him financial and logistical support to carry out attacks in Egypt and upon his return, he travelled to North Sinai, where Islamist insurgents trained him in using weapons and making explosive devices.

When Qassem returned to his home in Cairo, the Brotherhood members residing in Qatar instructed him to start preparing and planning for attacks targeting Copts.

The attacks were "aiming to foment a large-scale sectarian crisis" without linking the group with these attacks, the interior ministry said.

The ministry statement claims a group named The Egyptian Revolutionary Council, an alleged arm of the Brotherhood, has issued a statement on December 5 "vowing to target the heads of the Orthodox Church because of its support for the state."

Some analysts had warned that Islamists affiliated with the Brotherhood, though not necessarily under their control, could turn to serious violence after the 2013 post-coup crackdown.

Copts have faced persecution and discrimination dating back to the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled by a popular uprising in 2011.

Sunday's bombing was the worst attack against the Copts since a 2011 suicide bombing killed more than 20 worshippers outside a church in the coastal city of Alexandria.

source: interaksyon.com

Palestinian decision-making body backs Hamas truce demands in Gaza

GAZA/JERUSALEM  -- The Palestinian decision-making body led by US-backed President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday endorsed demands by Hamas for halting Gaza hostilities with Israel, a closing of ranks that may help Egyptian-mediated truce efforts.

With Israeli and US encouragement, Egypt has tried to get both sides to hold fire and then negotiate terms for protracted calm in the Palestinian enclave where officials said 624 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in 15 days of fighting.

Hamas, the Gaza Strip's dominant Islamists, and other armed factions had baulked at Cairo's offer, saying they wanted assurances of relief from an Israeli-Egyptian blockade and other concessions. The dispute was further complicated by distrust between Egypt under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Hamas.

In a move that could effectively turn Abbas into the main interlocutor for a Gaza truce, his umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization on Wednesday formally supported core conditions set by the Hamas-led fighters.

"The Gaza demands of stopping the aggression and lifting the blockade in all its forms are the demands of the entire Palestinian people and they represent the goal that the Palestinian leadership has dedicated all its power to achieve," senior PLO official Yasser Abed Rabbo said in Ramallah, the hub city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank where Abbas is based.

"We are confident Gaza will not be broken as long as our people are standing beside it to support it through all possible means until the invaders understand that our great people inside the homeland and outside will not leave Gaza alone."

Signaling that Abbas, too, sought a staggered cessation of hostilities, the Palestinian leader's Fatah faction on Tuesday proposed a truce followed by five days of negotiations on terms.

There was no immediate response to the PLO statement from Hamas or Israel, which pressed the Gaza offensive it began on July 8 after a surge of cross-border rocket salvoes.

Mounting toll

Israel has lost 29 soldiers in the Gaza clashes, including a tank officer who the army said on Wednesday had been killed by a Palestinian sniper overnight. Two Israeli civilians have been killed by shelling by Palestinian fighters that has reached deep into the Jewish state, spreading panic despite the success of its Iron Dome rocket interceptor and civilian shelters.

Three Palestinians died in Israeli strikes on Wednesday, Gaza officials said. Rocket launches set off air-raid sirens in southern Israel, but there was no word of casualties.

There was also violence in the West Bank, where a Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli troops near Bethlehem. The army said soldiers fired a rubber bullet at him during a confrontation with dozens of Palestinians hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails.

Egyptian sources, speaking on Tuesday as US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Cairo to advance truce efforts, said a unified Palestinian position could help achieve a deal.

Unlike Hamas, which refuses permanent coexistence with the Jewish state, the PLO has pursued peacemaking for two decades.

Those efforts were set back in April when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called off US-sponsored peace negotiations over Abbas's surprise power-share deal with Hamas.

Yet Netanyahu stopped short of cutting ties with Abbas, whose forces help secure the West Bank, and foreign mediators continue to see the Palestinian leader as someone the Israelis can negotiate with.

Having unilaterally accepted an Egyptian-proposed truce last week that was rejected by Hamas, the Israelis made clear on Tuesday they would not stand down before their forces destroyed Hamas's military infrastructure, including rocket sites and a network of tunnels used for cross-border Palestinian raids.

"A ceasefire is not near," said Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, the most dovish member of Netanyahu's security cabinet.

Yet Israel faced mounting international alarm at the toll on Palestinian civilians, as well as economic pressure from lost tourism that soared on Tuesday when the US Federal Aviation Administration took the rare step of banning flights to Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion International Airport for at least 24 hours after a rocket from Gaza struck nearby, wounding two people.

European airlines also canceled flights to Israel, whose own carriers continued to operate.

An Israeli official said Netanyahu asked Kerry to help restore the US flights. A US official said the Obama administration would not "overrule the FAA" on a security precaution but noted the ban would be reviewed after 24 hours.

Focus on Hamas

Following meetings in Egypt, which has some leverage over Hamas through its control of its border with Gaza, Kerry said on Tuesday there was still "work to do" to resolve the conflict and urged the Palestinian Islamists to pursue negotiations.

Because Washington, like Israel and the European Union, deems Hamas a terrorist group, they have no direct contact and Washington must rely on proxies such as Egypt, Qatar and Turkey.

In a sign of the intensity of the US diplomacy, Kerry spoke to Netanyahu and to Qatari and Turkish foreign ministers after meeting Sisi for two hours, a senior US official said.

"The Egyptians have provided a framework and a forum for them to be able to come to the table to have a serious discussion together with other factions of the Palestinians," Kerry said. "Hamas has a fundamental choice to make and it is a choice that will have a profound impact for the people of Gaza."

Angered by an Israeli crackdown on its supporters in the West Bank and by Gaza's hardship under blockade, Hamas has said it is willing to continue fighting. In addition to freeing up Gaza's borders, Hamas wants a prisoner release by Israel.

The Egyptian plan does not specify a timeline for easing the blockade, saying "crossings shall be opened and the passage of persons and goods through border crossings shall be facilitated once the security situation becomes stable on the ground".

US officials view Qatar, a tiny, gas-rich Gulf state that has supported Hamas financially and hosts some of the militant group's senior leaders, as important to the diplomacy.

In contrast, the Egyptian government is deeply suspicious of Hamas as it is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood movement toppled from power in Cairo by then-army chief Sisi last year.

Israel is openly opposed to giving Qatar or Turkey leading roles in mediation, given its troubled ties with both countries.

The upcoming Eid al-Fitr festival -- Islam's biggest annual celebration that follows the end of the fasting month of Ramadan this weekend -- could provide all sides with a convenient moment to agree to a cease-fire.

Asked about Eid, a senior Obama administration official said: "It's a potential opportunity. We want there to be a cease-fire as soon as possible basically, and insofar as that’s a marker that can compel Hamas to the table that would be a good thing, but the bottom line is they’re going to have to stop firing rockets."

source: interaksyon.com

Egypt's Presidential Nominations On Schedule

CAIRO (AP) – Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court said Sunday the nominating period for presidential candidates will open March 10 and last four weeks, but stopped short of announcing a date for the election.

Farouq Sultan, the head of the court committee overseeing the vote, told reporters that a decision is expected soon on when Egypt will hold presidential elections, adding that balloting will take place over one or two days. But he said the an-nouncement of the winner, even from a potential run-off; would be declared by the end of June, which would suggest the vote could be held no later than early June.

The timing of the presidential elections has been a highly divisive issue in Egypt. Activists who have been critical of the military's handling of the country's transition to democracy want the ruling generals to hold the elections earlier than June and hand over power to a civilian administration immediately. However, the military rulers still have the support of a broad spectrum of the Egyptian public who see them as the only viable leaders able to run the country until a president is elected.

Several leading figures already have expressed an interest in running for president.

Ex-Arab League chief Amr Moussa, a former foreign minister under Mubarak and a popular figure, has already begun campaigning, as has Ahmed Shafiq, a former air force pilot who served as prime minister at the height of the anti-Mubarak protests. He would likely be looked on favorably by the generals.

Mohammed Salim El Awa, a lawyer who has written a book on the concept of Islam and governance, is also expected to submit his nomination.

Among Egypt's Islamists, there is Abdel-Moneim Aboul-Fotouh, a longtime liberal within the Muslim Brotherhood who has gained support among the pro-revolution crowd. He was expelled from the group because he declared his intention to run for president after the Brotherhood said it would not field a candidate. There is also Hazem Abu Ismail, who draws his core support from the ultraconservative Salafis, who form the second largest bloc in parliament after the Brotherhood.

The most notable absence from the field is Nobel laureate and former U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei. He withdrew from the race last month, saying a fair election would be impossible under the military's grip. He said the election would likely not bring a real end to the generals' rule.

Many activists believe the military wants to ensure the race produces a president who will support its interests and allow it to have a strong voice in politics even after it formally steps aside. Egypt's last four presidents have come from within the top ranks of the military, ensuring that for decades the army remained untouchable. The military has already tried to prevent or limit civilian oversight of its budget under the future system.

According to a referendum supported last year by a majority of Egyptian voters, eligible candidates must not have held dual nationality, must not be married to a foreigner and must be at least 40 years old. Egyptian-born candidates will also need 30,000 signatures or the backing of at least 30 lawmakers. The military decreed the results as law.

Parliament said Sunday that it will review all of the laws decreed by the military council. Some lawmakers were angered that the presidential law was issued just days before the new parliament convened for the first time last month.

Separately, Arizona Sen. Jon McCain arrived in Cairo Sunday evening, a day after Egypt set a trial date of Feb. 26 for 16 Americans and 27 others in a case against foreign-funded pro-democracy groups that has badly shaken ties with Washington. McCain chairs the International Republican Institute, which is one of four US -based groups under investigation. American officials have threatened to cut $1.5 billion in aid over the spat, most of which is allocated to the Egyptian army. The senator, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, is expected to meet with Egypt's top military rulers during his visit.

source: mb.com.ph