Investigations revealed that the Al-Azhar bomber had accomplices, and that his intentions were not suicidal, writes Jailan Halawi Ten days following the Al-Azhar blast that left four dead (including the culprit) and more than 18 injured, the Interior Ministry announced that the bomber had not been working alone. Investigations had revealed that the 7 April bomb -- which struck the Khan Al-Khalili Bazaar in the Al-Azhar area of Islamic Cairo -- was also not a suicide attack. The incident -- the first bombing in the capital in seven years -- sent shockwaves throughout the country, already simmering with unprecedented internal political upheaval. The bombing also brought back unhappy memories of a far more unsettled time in the late 1980s and early '90s, when a wave of terrorist attacks by Islamist militants targeted Egypt's tourism industry, among a host of other targets. While security officials were uncertain about the broader dimensions and motives behind the attack, or what triggered it, they identified the perpetrator on 11 April as 18-year-old engineering student Hassan Raafat Bashandi. The ministry said Bashandi lived in the north Cairo district of Shubra Al-Kheima and attended the Benha branch of Zaqaziq University. A team of forensic doctors identified Bashandi using DNA tests, and the ministry said he was not a member of any known, or organised, Islamist militant group. The scant information birthed countless theories. One suggested the explosion was the work of a desperate loner; others proposed a conspiracy. The Interior Ministry, meanwhile, kept a low profile, sufficing to assure the public that investigations were ongoing, and all possibilities being sifted through. Nearly a week later, on Sunday 17 April, the ministry announced that the explosion was not an "individual act", but that of a "limited", organised group of militants adopting a Jihadist ideology. While the group remains "modest in number", it had aimed to execute an "effective" operation. The ministry's statement named Bashandi's alleged accomplices, who helped plan the attack and prepare the primitive bomb that was used. Bashandi, the statement said, did not intend to carry out a suicide attack, but was rather the "victim" of a ploy by one of his co-conspirators, who incorrectly informed him that the bomb would explode five minutes later, even though he must have known it would go off immediately. Three of the suspected accomplices were arrested; the one still at large, the ministry said, would be captured soon. Bashandi's primary accomplice was identified as 35-year-old Akram Mohamed Fawzi, who allegedly masterminded, financed and provided all the data collected from the Internet about how to prepare explosives from primitive substances available on the market. The statement said Fawzi was the group's leader and mentor, who not only indoctrinated them in Jihadist ideology and provided them with the target, but further incited them to carry out terrorist attacks in protest at and revenge for incidents taking place in the region, especially in Iraq and Palestine. Fawzi, the ministry claims, persuaded the group to establish a chemical fertiliser workshop to serve as a front for their activities, a source of income, and a place where they could manufacture the explosives they needed for their operations. The workshop is based in a small village in the southern Minya Governorate. The second suspect was identified as 27-year-old Ashraf Said Youssef, whose task, security bodies said, was to recruit and persuade Bashandi into carrying out the attack. Youssef reportedly took advantage of Bashandi's deteriorating psychological condition following his father's death. The young man had become a depressive introvert, easily manipulated by Youssef, who trained Bashandi on how to use the "primitive bomb", and assured him that it would only explode five minutes after it was ignited. In a bid to further reassure Bashandi, the ministry said, Youssef had agreed to meet Bashandi immediately following the operation. Basing itself on the suspects' "confessions" to interrogators, the ministry says Youssef even tried to mislead the rest of the group after the attack, saying Bashandi died as a result of his impatience in detonating the device. Youssef is still at large. As for the third suspect, the statement identified him as 34- year-old university graduate Tarek Mohamed El-Sayed. El- Sayed reportedly placed the primitive bomb in "a green bucket", and gave it to Youssef, who then passed it along to Bashandi. Bashandi was not even originally supposed to be the one carrying out the attack; he was only called in to replace the fourth suspect, 19-year-old Reda Ahmed Ibrahim, who could not make it on account of having to undergo open-heart surgery, the ministry statement said. Ibrahim, a Shubra Al-Kheima neighbour of Bashandi's, had expressed his willingness to carry out the operation, before introducing Bashandi to Youssef when he found out he had to undergo surgery. The Interior Ministry's statement was unclear about whether those behind the blast belonged to, or had any links with, any of the known radical Islamist organisations. Experts interviewed by Al-Ahram Weekly said that while the blast was the work of an amateur group, the fact that it was carried out by a group of young men from impoverished areas with scarce resources meant the possible emergence of scattered little groups -- angered by events in the region or poor conditions at home -- that could carry out unexpected operations here and there. Political analysts also said US and Israeli aggression against Arabs and Muslims -- particularly in Iraq and Palestine -- was also to blame. Anti-Western sentiment, said the analysts interviewed by the Weekly, is growing as a result of increased US and Israel aggression against Arab and Muslim civilians. This dynamic has resulted in young people seeking out the means whereby they can "avenge and respond to what they see as "brutal assaults on their culture, religion and communities". Authorities must recognise, on analyst said, the socio- economic factors that motivate acts of terrorism. The millions of young unemployed people in Egypt could -- in their frustration and hopelessness -- become easy prey to extremist ideologies. Describing the blast as "a warning sign", the political analyst who preferred anonymity advised that "instead of squashing reform", authorities ought to address the issues and challenges facing Egypt's youth, and speed up the process -- in order to avoid any further "acts of despair".
