Egyptian Islamic Jihad
Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), also referred to as Islamic Jihad or the Jihad Group, is a prominent Egyptian terrorist organization founded in 1973 as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. The group aims to establish a fundamentalist Islamic government in Egypt and has been involved in a series of violent activities, including the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981, which was a significant act opposed to Sadat's peace negotiations with Israel. EIJ has also conducted numerous attacks against Egyptian officials and has been linked to international incidents, such as the bombings of U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998.
EIJ's leadership under Ayman al-Zawahiri has been pivotal, as he forged a close alliance with al Qaeda, further intertwining their operations in Afghanistan. While EIJ has maintained a presence in Egypt, its activities have attracted extensive governmental crackdowns. The group has been involved in various plots targeting U.S. interests and has gained notoriety for its extremist ideology. Despite significant governmental actions against it, EIJ remains active, reflecting ongoing tensions between fundamentalist movements and state authorities.
Egyptian Islamic Jihad
AKA: Islamic Jihad, Jihad Group.
Territory: Egypt and Afghanistan.
Religious affiliation or political orientation: Fundamentalist Muslim.
Founded: 1973, as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Stated goals
- Establishment of fundamentalist Islamic government in Egypt.
- Attacking U.S. interests in Egypt and elsewhere in the region.
Key leader: Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Alliances: al Qaeda.
Activities
- Assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat (1981).
- Failed assassination attempts against Egypt's Interior Minister Hassan Al-Alfi and Prime Minister Atef Sedky (1993).
- Bombing of Egypt's embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan (1995).
- A string of attacks on Egyptian officials, including policemen, tourists, and Christians (1992-2000).
Last known status: Active.
Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), also known as Islamic Jihad or the Jihad Group, is the largest and most notorious Egyptian Islamic fundamentalist terrorist organization. EIJ formed during the 1970s as a violence-prone offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood while that organization was attempting to achieve legitimacy as a peaceful political organization. Some observers have questioned whether EIJ was completely separate from the Muslilm Brotherhood. Both organizations share the same basic goal: establishing a fundamentalist Islamic organization in Egypt.
One of EIJ's first and most dramatic actions was the assassination of President Anwar Sadat during a military parade on Oct. 6, 1981. EIJ was bitterly opposed to Sadat's peace negotiations with Israel. A decade later, in 1992, EIJ launched a long string of attacks on Egyptian government officials, ranging from individual policemen to a pair of ambitious but unsuccessful assassination attempts in 1993, one aimed at the Interior Minister, Hassan Al Alfi, in August and the other aimed at the Prime Minister, Atef Sedky, in November.
The death toll during EIJ's campaign during the 1990s is put at about 1,300 people killed, although this figure is tempered by the realization that responsibility for terrorist attacks is often difficult to substantiate.
EIJ's activities sparked a strong crackdown by the government of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak (Sadat's successor), resulting in the jailing of many suspected EIJ members, including surgeon Ayman al-Zawahiri, who spent three years in prison on a charge of carrying an unlicensed pistol but was thought to be an accomplice in the assassination plot.
After his release from prison Zawahiri went to Afghanistan where, as a physician, he began tending to anti-Soviet guerrillas who were backed by the United States. He became acquainted with Osama bin Laden, leader of al Qaeda, a Saudi guerrilla group fighting the Soviet occupiers of Afghanistan.
Alliance with al Qaeda
In 1991 Zawahri took over operational leadership of EIJ, a position he continues to hold. Al-Zawahiri in turn formed a close alliance with al Qaeda and moved his headquarters to Afghanistan (where, it is believed, he continues to be based) and effectively merged his organization with al Qaeda.
Zawahiri is often described as the No. 2 leader in al Qaeda behind bin Laden, although some observers have disputed that characterization, arguing that Zawahiri provides most of the strategic and operational leadership of al Qaeda, while bin Laden focuses on the organization's financial support.
In any event there is evidence that EIJ and al Qaeda effectively merged their international operations in Afghanistan, while EIJ may have maintained an autonomous organization in Egypt. Some observers have suggested that after Zawahiri emigrated to Afghanistan, leadership of EIJ was split with Abbud al-Zumar, who was subsequently imprisoned along with many of his followers inside Egypt, leaving the exile group under Zawahiri as the dominant manifestation of EIJ.
Attacks on the United States
In addition to its campaign to install an Islamic fundamentalist government in Egypt, EIJ has long been associated with attacks aimed at the United States and Israel.
In 1994 EIJ was linked to unsuccessful bomb attacks on the U.S. and Israeli embassies in Manila. Four years later the group is thought to have been the driving force between twin bombings of American embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam on Aug. 7, 1998. The bombing of the USS Cole in Aden, Yemen, was also blamed on EIJ, as was a thwarted bomb attack on the American embassy in Albania in 1998. In the case of the embassy bombings in Africa and the attack on the Cole, the name al Qaeda is also often invoked, underlying the often vague and overlapping ties between Islamic fundamentalist organization in the region.
Some observers have also linked EIJ with Sheikh Omar Abd al-Rahman, the blind religious leader who emigrated to New York City, and who is now imprisoned for his role in planning the first terrorist attack against the World Trade Center in 1993. Al-Rahman is sometimes described as the spiritual leader of EIJ, although he is also described as having close ties to a similar Egyptian fundamentalist terrorist organization, Gama'a al-Islamiyya.
From February to April of 1999 Egypt tried 107 Islamic fundamentalists on charges of involvement in terrorism; more than half the suspects were tried in absentia, including al-Zawahiri. The trial provided a wealth of information about EIJ, including details about its organization, membership, policies, capabilities, and its alliance with bin Laden's al Qaeda. Zawahiri was not present for the trial and remains under sentence in Egypt.
Principal events involving Egyptian Islamic Jihad:
Oct. 6, 1981: Assassins kill Egyptian President Anwar Sadat during a military parade.
Feb. 26, 1993: A car bomb explodes in a subterranean parking garage of the World Trade Center in New York, killing six and injuring over 1,000.
Oct. 3, 1993: EIJ members collaborating with Somali warlord Muhammad Farrah Aidid shoot down three U.S. helicopters in Mogadishu, killing 18.
Feb. 1998: Osama bin Laden announces formation of International Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and Crusaders," a terrorist alliance that includes al-Qaeda and EIJ, among others.
July 23, 1998: Sheik Muhammad Salah, an Egyptian imam and preacher believed to be a member of EIJ, is assassinated in San'aa, Yemen, evidently because he was suspected of cooperating with the Egyptian government.
Summer 1998: U.S. agents foil plot to blow up U.S. embassy in Tirana, Albania; several suspects are arrested and deported to Egypt for trial.
Aug. 7, 1998: Virtually simultaneous bombings damage U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing 225 and injuring over 4,000.
Feb.-Apr. 1999: Trial in Egypt of 107 suspected terrorists, including many members of EIJ, results in sentences of death or life imprisonment for top leaders.
Oct. 12, 2000: Bombing of USS Cole in harbor of Aden, Yemen, kills 17 sailors and injures 39.
On the Web
"http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in%5Fdepth/world/2001/war%5Fon%5Fterror/investigation%5Fon%5Fterror/organisation%5F2.stm." BBC News.
Gebara, Khalil. "http://www.jamestown.org/publications%5Fdetails.php?volume%5Fid=411&&issue%5Fid=3228" Terrorism Monitor, The Jamestown Foundation, Feb. 10, 2005.
Wright, Lawrence, "http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?020916fa%5Ffact2a." The New Yorker, Sept. 16, 2002.
Bibliography
"Bin Laden's Invisible Network," Newsweek, Oct. 29, 2001, p. 42.
Bloch, Hannah, et al. "What's Become of Al-Qaeda?" Time, Jan. 21, 2002, p. 38.
Dickey, Christopher, et. al. "Terror Times Two," Newsweek, Aug. 17, 1998, p. 22.
Whitelaw, Kevin and Mark Mazzetti. "Al-Qaeda's Web." U.S. News & World Report, Sep. 11, 2002, p. 56.