On Tuesday police shot dead the man they claim is the mastermind of the group behind Sinai's suicide bombings and captured his aide, reports Jailan Halawi As the manhunt continues for suspects connected with the 24 April triple bombings in the Red Sea resort of Dahab and the two suicide attacks in Al-Arish, security forces shot dead the alleged leader of the group they believe to be behind the wave of terrorist attacks that have rocked the peninsula since October 2004. Security sources said Nasser Khamis El-Mallahi was killed in the shootout at Gabal Al-Arish in northern Sinai. Forces cordoned off the mountainous area and captured El-Mallahi's aide Mohamed Abdallah Elian. Both El-Mallahi and Elian appear on the list of 25 suspects issued earlier by Sinai police and believed to be linked to the Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad (Unification and Jihad) group that police say is behind the spate of suicide attacks. According to police reports El-Mallahi, a father of two, took over the leadership of the group from Khaled Mosaad, shot dead by the police last year in Gabal Halal near Al-Arish. In October 2004 a triple bombing at the Red Sea resort of Taba killed 34. At the time security forces said the attack was the work of amateurs with no affiliations to any major radical militant groups. It believed that all the attack's perpetrators had perished in the bombings. Less than a year later the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh was hit, leaving 65 dead and scores injured. Once again there were three bombs. While security forces conceded the culprits were linked with the perpetrators of the Taba bombings, they subsequently claimed that all the group members had been killed in confrontations with the police. Such assurances were shown to be hollow when last month three other bombs exploded in the Red Sea resort of Dahab, leaving 19 dead. Then, on 26 April two more suicide bombers attacked a Multinational Forces and Observer (MFO) base in northern Sinai. Investigators subsequently announced that the attacks were carried out by the same group, Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad, and began a painstaking search of the rugged mountains of the peninsula in search of other members. Three suspected terrorists and an Egyptian police officer, Major Abdel-Khaleq Nabil Abu Zeid, were killed in clashes between security forces and fugitives on 1 May in the Maghara Mountain area. Two policemen were also wounded, one critically, in the confrontation 60km south of Al-Arish city. Three other suspects were shot dead on 30 April in a gun battle in north Sinai. Police said it had identified one of the bodies as Selim Attallah Hussein El-Deuot, a Bedouin from northern Sinai wanted by the police in connection with the October 2004 Taba and July 2005 Sharm El-Sheikh bombings. On 6 May security forces announced the identities of four alleged suspects, three killed in confrontations with the police and one who blew himself up close to an MFO vehicle on 26 April. The three suspects killed on 1 May were named as Eid Salama El-Tirawi, alias Salah, an Al-Azhar student who allegedly led the Sharm El-Sheikh attacks and stole the vehicles used in the bombings, Mounir Mohamed Moharib, alias Hassan, from Al-Sheikh Zuweid village, suspected of helping plan the Sharm El-Sheikh attacks, and Suleiman Salma El-Hamdin, wanted in connection with drug trafficking, and allegedly one of the group's key figures. El-Hamdin is thought to have been instrumental in setting up the group and was among those taking part in last year's gun battle in Gabal Halal that left the group's then leader, Mosaad, dead. The man involved in the Al-Arish attacks was identified as Ahmed Hamadi Abu Geel, also from Al-Sheikh Zuweid village. While family members of the suspects have identified the corpses, police are waiting for forensic confirmation. Sources close to the investigations say the Dahab attackers -- new recruits with no security record -- used explosive belts and intended to maximise casualties by targeting the beachfront promenade. On Tuesday Israel issued a security warning urging all its nationals to leave the Sinai Peninsula "immediately". General Mohamed Hani Metwali, governor of South Sinai, denied Israel had notified Egypt of the possibility of the attacks prior to the incidents, describing Israeli travel warnings as "routine" measures issued prior to all Egyptian national holidays. In the wake of the 24 April attacks an undisclosed number of suspects have been detained for questioning though no charges have yet been pressed. Among those detained in Dahab are three Egyptian computer engineers reportedly carrying forged papers. They arrived in the resort a day before the bombings and attempted to leave an hour after the attacks. The Dahab bombings came a day before Sinai Liberation Day, the national holiday marking Israel's 1982 withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula, and a day after Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden had issued a call to Muslims to support Al-Qaeda in fighting what he described as "a war against Islam". Many political analysts argue the security apparatus's zero tolerance of any form of dissent is partly responsible for the continuing attacks since it closes any avenues towards legitimate political action, leaving the young and frustrated vulnerable to recruitment by extremist groups.
