A Cairo court has declared Hamas' military wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, a terrorist organisation. The case brought against the group accused the organisation of involvement in and financing of terrorist attacks inside Egypt, and of attacking army and police personnel to destabilise the country. The verdict by the Cairo Court of Urgent Matters stipulates that members of the group in Egypt will be labelled a "terrorist element". The court decision comes two days after a series of militant attacks in North Sinai left at least 30 people dead, mostly security personnel. Sinai-based militant group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, which recently pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Muslim Brotherhood organisation was declared a terrorist organisation by an Egyptian court last year; its representatives have denied any links with the increasing number of militant attacks that have taken place in Egypt since the Brotherhood was removed from power in 2013. The relationship between Egypt and Hamas, the de facto rulers of the Gaza Strip, has been tense since the ouster of the Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi. Egypt has accused Hamas of being involved in the smuggling of weapons through underground tunnels into the restive Sinai Peninsula, an accusation that the group has denied. To combat the increase in militant attacks, which are concentrated in North Sinai, the army has destroyed numerous smuggling tunnels that link Egypt and Gaza, as well as demolishing hundreds of houses in order to create a buffer zone along the Gaza border. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/121820.aspx
