The US State Department on 9 April designated EgyptianSinai-based Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis jihadist group as a foreign terrorist organization. The group has claimed various attacks and assassinations in Egypt including a missile attack on a military helicopter in Sinai in which five soldiers were killed; four attacks involving car bombs and hand grenades in Cairo, which left six people dead and over 70 wounded; and an attack on a tourist bus in Sinai in February, killing three South Korean tourists and an Egyptian driver. In a first reaction to the US move, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry welcomed the decision. Spokesperson Badr Abdel-Ati said: "This ban is a result of continuous and intensive efforts exerted by the Foreign Ministry and the Egyptian embassies overseas over the last seven months." Abdel-Ati said that the Foreign Ministry has been communicating with both the United States, United Kingdom and other countries to give a clear vision about the severity of international terrorism and how it threatens Egypt and the whole world and needs to follow suit to combat these groups and dry up their funding sources. Expert in Islamist movements Salah-al-Din Hassan said that the decision is "odd" as the United States usually makes such decisions in the case of a militant group threatening international security, but the Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis is now threatening Egyptian security only. The group did, however, attack Israel years ago but the US government did not respond with a terrorist designation, Hassan said. He wondered why the Egyptian government speedily declared Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization but has not designated the Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis so far. Hassan believes that the US decision will not have further drawbacks because so far Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis carries out its attacks inside Egypt only. Meanwhile, security expert General Fouad Allam is very sceptical of the US statement, claiming it is merely "camouflage" to hide true US intentions of funding terrorist groups in Egypt. Allam claims the US secretly backs the Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis and this announcement is a delusion to keep their country away from terrorist attacks by the group. For his part, former Islamic Group leader Fouad al-Dawalibi described the US decision as "rather late." "Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis group is different from the Muslim Brotherhood, although it received assistance from the Muslim Brotherhood," he said, adding that the Muslim Brotherhood group has "used terrorist groups to sustain authority." Political expert Sameh Rashid said the US decision is "in Egypt's interest, since it places fresh restrictions on the group and its activities." Former Muslim Brotherhood member Khaled al-Za'farani called on the United States to open a probe into "the link between the Muslim Brotherhood group and Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis and the funds the group has received from the Muslim Brotherhood to undertake terrorist activities." Meanwhile, former Muslim Brotherhood leader Tharwat al-Khirbawi said that Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis is "an offshoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood group," noting that "the United States is well aware of this fact, but it is unwilling to admit it." He added that the US decision "confirms that the United States does not plan to list the Muslim Brotherhood among terrorist groups." The US decision was also hailed by some local newspapers. In its editorial on 11 April, state-run Al-Ahram said that the US move "is significant because it came after the UK decided to review the Muslim Brotherhood activities." "Although the US move is welcomed, it raises questions on whether the United States is ready to be committed to the principles of fighting terrorism," the paper said. For its part, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis reacted to the US decision. "The United States of America will regret this decision. We call on our people in Egypt, the employees of Kentucky [Fried Chicken] with all its branches and companies, and its embassies in Egypt to stay away. He who gives warning is forgiven," the group said in a purported tweet.
