Update Tue May 3, 2005; 01:30 Racing against time Security forces are looking for the brother of the suicide bomber behind Saturday's twin attacks on tourists as they fear he may be planning another operation. Jailan Halawi reports The ministry of interior announced today [Monday 2 May] that DNA tests confirmed the identities of Ihab Yassin, his sister Negat and his fiance Iman Khamis, as the three dead terrorists behind Saturday's twin attacks on tourists at the Abdel-Moneim Riyad Square and in the neighbourhood of Al-Sayida Aisha. Investigations further revealed the involvement of a fourth member of the Yassin family, the 17-year-old Mohamed Yassin, Ihab and Negat Yassin's youngest brother, who is currently being chased by the police and is believed to be in possession of a primitive explosive device, similar to that used in the Khan El-Khalili and the Abdel-Moneim Riyad incidents. Security sources believe that Mohamed Yassin was the driver who first delivered his brother Ihab to Abdel-Moneim Riyad Square, then took his sister Negat and her friend Iman to the site of the second attack. The police said eyewitnesses confirmed seeing the man who carried the Abdel-Moneim Riyad operation in the company of a two fully veiled women in a car driven by a young man near the site of the first attack. Security sources, speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly on customary condition of anonymity, said that following the 7 April Khan El-Khalil operation and the arrest of four terrorists linked to that operation, and as the police was racing against time to identify and arrest all suspects, those members of the group who were still at large or hitherto unidentified decided to carry out a number of attacks on tourists to avenge their comrades. Earlier the Ministry of Interior had said the twin attacks were a desperate, last-minute act undertaken by Ihab Youssry Yassin, as the police was chasing him on the 6 October Bridge. Yassin who had jumped off the bridge, detonated a nail-filled bomb killing himself and injuring four tourists and three Egyptians in the process, the ministry said. The second attack, the Ministry of Interior said, was carried out by Yassin's sister and his fiance in revenge for his death. The two women opened fire on a tourist bus in the Al-Sayida Aisha area before they allegedly committed suicide. In a statement issued by the Ministry of Interior shortly after the incident, Saturday's twin attacks were linked to the chase of three suspects involved in the Khan El-Khalili attack. Initially the ministry had claimed that Hassan Rafaat Bashandi, identified as the suicide bomber in question, was a lone wolf. A few days later, however, the Ministry said that Bashandi had accomplices who were still at large. On Friday 29 April, a piece carried on the front page of the national daily Al-Gomhuriya had pictures of three suspects wanted in connection with the Khan El-Khalili bombing. Ihab Yassin, the alleged culprit in Saturday's attack, was among them. The other two were Gamal Ahmed Abdel-Aal and Ashraf Said Youssef, both of whom had been arrested a few hours before Saturday's twin attacks took place. According to security sources, Yassin decided to carry out the attack on learning of the arrest of Abdel-Aal and Youssef. Reportedly, he had told his sister and his fiance that in the event of him failing, they should carry out the second attack themselves. Before his arrest, Youssef, the alleged mastermind behind all operations, had assigned Yassin the task of planting a bomb inside an empty tourist bus parked at Abdel-Moneim Riyad Square, near the Egyptian museum. Scared by the heavy presence of security around the area, Yassin ascended the nearby staircase leading to the 6 October Bridge but found himself cornered by police and panicked, jumping off the bridge with the device. While security forces are racing against time to arrest Mohamed Yassin, the youngest brother of Ihab and Negat Yassin, and other suspects; a wide police campaign is currently underway in the Shubra El-Kheima district, where all suspects resided. Reportedly, police have arrested around 200 family members, neighbours and friends of the suspects pending interrogation.
