Qaeda-linked cell involved in kidnapping 4 policemen in Sinai

The Supreme State Security Prosecution has revealed that a cell linked to al-Qaeda was involved in the abduction of three police officers and a non-commissioned officer on February 4, 2011, who remain to the day unaccounted for. One of the cell members involved in the abduction was arrested recently and remanded in custody pending investigations over planning suicide bombings against the US and French embassies in Cairo. The suspect, identified as Mohamed Abdel-Halim, will be further detained pending investigation, after it was allegedly confirmed that he had joined terrorist groups in the Sinai Peninsula. He is charged with joining terrorist groups that spearheaded attacks in the country, including abductions, blowing up gas pipelines and possessing explosives. Investigations revealed that Abdel-Halim belongs to a Qaeda group called "Ahmed el-Killani" and was implicated in the abduction of the four police personnel. He has also links with another terrorist group named "Youssef Hamad", whose activities focused mainly on blowing up natural gas pipelines in Sinai, investigations showed. He also has connections with "Soliman el-Balhimi" terrorist cell, which carried out armed attacks against Al-Arish police station and security checkpoints in Sinai during the army's "Nasr-2" security operation. Hamad and Balhimi were both behind the bars of Abu-Zabal prison but escaped during the jailbreaks that occurred in the first days of the 2011 January revolution. Both have allegedly escaped to the Palestinian territories. The prosecution released two others after examinations of their cell phones and personal computers showed they have nothing to do with the terrorist groups.