By Ahmed Moussa and Khaled Dawoud Egypt's largest militant organisation, Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya, issued a statement on Saturday warning that the US strikes against Sudan and Afghanistan a week ago were "a crime that would not go unpunished." "These raids carried out by American warplanes under the pretext of targeting the bases of mujahidin are a barbaric and cowardly act which violated all rules and went beyond all limits," the Gama'a said. It called upon the Arab masses to "express their anger and to support our people in Sudan and Afghanistan by besieging US embassies in Islamic countries and forcing their rulers to close them down and expel the spies inside." The statement reiterated the oft-held view in Arab and Islamic circles that US President Bill Clinton ordered the attacks in order to "cover up the scandals of the White House" -- an allusion to the Monica Lewinsky affair. The statement then exhorted "Islamic movements, and those embracing jihad in particular, to carry out their duties in facing this arrogance, and to address the United States in the language it understands," meaning violence. The Gama'a statement quoted a verse from the Holy Qur'an affirming that a "small army of believers, God willing, could beat a larger army." Sending a strongly-worded warning, Al-Gama'a said that "one billion Muslims are capable of turning their bodies into bombs which are equal in force to all the weapons of extermination and mass destruction possessed by the Americans." It added that the US strike against the two Islamic countries was a continuation of an "American-Jewish conspiracy against Islam and our holy sites." Al-Gama'a is the same organisation which claimed responsibility for the 1997 massacre in Luxor of 58 tourists and four Egyptians. It also claimed responsibility for the failed assassination attempt against President Hosni Mubarak in June 1995, shortly after his arrival in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to take part in an African summit. Several Gama'a leaders, such as Rifa'i Ahmed Taha, Mustafa Hamza and Mohamed Shawqi El-Islambouli, brother to Khaled, President Anwar El-Sadat's assassin, are reportedly living in Afghanistan in camps similar to those targeted by the US. Taha, known as the overall Gama'a leader, also maintains close links with Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden. The US has announced that Bin Laden is the main suspect in the bombing of its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania on 7 August. The strong language the Gama'a used in its statement raised questions about the credibility of an earlier statement by the group in which it distanced itself from Bin Laden. Only one week before the twin blasts at the US embassies, Al-Gama'a ran an interview with Taha on its website in which he distanced himself from the "International Islamic Front for Jihad against Jews and Crusaders," a grouping of militant organisations led by Bin Laden. The group issued a statement in February saying that its leaders had agreed on an Islamic ruling allowing "the killing of Americans and Jews wherever they are." In addition to Bin Laden, the statement was signed by the leader of Egypt's Islamic Jihad, Ayman Zawahri, in addition to Taha, two extremist Pakistani groups and one other from Bangladesh. Taha said in the interview that he was not aware of the existence of the Islamic Front and that the only statement he had signed was one expressing solidarity with the Iraqi people in the face of tight economic sanctions. But an informed security source told Al-Ahram Weekly that the announcement "could be a tactic and a distributing of roles." He added that "this is an obvious game to which they resorted in order to spare their leaders in Afghanistan any possible dangers." The source said that the language used in the Gama'a statement was "very close to that used by Jihad, which confirms our view that the two groups have been coordinating closely and that both are linked to Bin Laden." He added that security bodies took the Gama'a threat "very seriously" and that they would not exclude terrorist attacks in retaliation for the US strikes. The security source said that Egypt has tightened security, stepped up security at possible targets and is closely monitoring its borders, airports and harbours to prevent infiltration from abroad. "Terrorist groups depend on the element of surprise and choosing the right time to make their strike," the source said. But Islamist lawyer Montasser El-Zayyat, known for his close links to the Gama'a leaders, claims that the latest Gama'a statement "only aims at expressing moral support for our Muslim people in Sudan and Afghanistan." El-Zayyat has been a key figure in several recent attempts to reach some form of truce between the government and the Gama'a. Following the Luxor attack, he had claimed that those who carried out the massacre acted on their own without orders from their leadership. He had also alleged that the outlawed group was about to issue a new ruling banning attacks against civilians and tourists. Yet, a few days later, Taha issued a statement confirming the group's responsibility for the Luxor attack and denied any intention to halt attacks against tourists. Zayyat added that Taha's interview "was an indication that the group might have learned of the Islamic Front's intention to carry out an operation against the US, and did not want to be held responsible." The lawyer said he believed the Gama'a would not stir up more trouble with the US at a time in which it already faces many problems following the Luxor massacre. Zayyat claims that Gama'a leaders differed over the "legitimacy" of the Luxor attack following the wide condemnation it received on both local and international levels. Several European governments where Gama'a leaders are believed to be residing took measures to restrict their activities after the Luxor massacre, Zayyat said, which convinces him more that the Gama'a is not ready for a confrontation with the US at this stage. Zayyat added that he did not expect Bin Laden's Islamic Front to carry out further attacks in the near future. "It is more likely to keep a low profile until the storm ends. But so long as the US maintains its unjust policy towards Islam and the Muslims, the situation will remain volatile," Zayyat told the Weekly.
