Group of 25 to face Egyptian emergency court on terrorism charges

Jan 5, 2010, 16:04 GMT

Cairo - Twenty-five men are to be tried by Egypt's Emergency State Security Court for plotting attacks against Christians and tourists, a leading Egyptian newspaper reported Tuesday.

The men, among them a Palestinian, are also accused of killing four Christians in a jewelry shop in Cairo's Zaitoun district in May 2008, and plotting to kill two more, al-Masry al-Youm reported.

The men face additional charges of monitoring oil pipelines and ship movements along the Suez Canal with the intention of attacking them.

State Security prosecutor Hisham Badawi said one of the men, a 26- year-old petroleum engineer, was in possession of the tract, 'A Call for Global Islamic Resistance,' by al-Qaeda militant Abu Musab al- Suri, 'and had come to believe in its perspective on Arab governments.'

'He then formed a secret group named 'Loyalty and Innocence,' with two branches, one in Cairo and one in (the province of) Daqhiliya,' the prosecutor was quoted as saying.

He went on to say that the group built a V-1 rocket, of the sort used in World War II, and a flying bomb controlled by the buttons on a mobile phone.

Badawi said interrogations revealed an Egyptian living in Italy assisted the group financially and provided them with a GPS device they connected to satellite systems and used to plan their attacks.