________________________________________________________________________
Egyptian group says it will stop killing tourists
____________________________________________________________________________
Copyright ) 1997 Nando.net
Copyright ) 1997 Reuters
CAIRO (December 8, 1997 07:29 a.m. EST http://www.nando.net) - The
militant Muslim group that claimed responsibility for the massacre last
month of 58 foreign tourists said it would no longer target tourists as
a way to weaken the Egyptian government.
"The Gama'a al-Islamiya (Islamic Group) has decided to stop targeting
either the tourism industry or foreign tourists," the group said in a
statement made available to Reuters on Monday.
Six gunmen shot and knifed to death 58 tourists and four Egyptians in
the southern town of Luxor on Nov. 17 in the bloodiest attack since the
Gama'a launched a campaign in 1992 to overthrow President Hosni Mubarak.
"The Gama'a has taken this decision out of a sense of responsibility
because it refuses to take advantage or use such a rejected incident
(the Luxor attack) in the framework of our war with the Egyptian
regime," the group said.
The Gama'a said its own investigation into the attack showed that young
members had acted on their own, another sign that the group seemed to
lack a central authority and had fragmented into smaller, more violent
elements.
"It has become clear that the perpetrators of the Luxor incident are
young and new members of the Gama'a. They were not assigned to carry out
any work connected to tourism," the statement said.
"Exiled Gama'a leaders were surprised by what happened at Luxor and were
shocked by the large number of victims and the mutilation of some of the
dead, which violates the principles of legitimacy, humanity and politics
of the Gama'a in Egypt."
The group had targeted tourists, senior officials, policemen and
Christians in a bid to weaken the government and install an Islamic
state.
Ninety-two tourists have been killed in 25 attacks since 1992, many of
which were claimed by the Gama'a as a way to damage the lucrative
tourism industry.
The group said a statement issued in the name of the Gama'a shortly
after the Luxor attack was not genuine.
A Gama'a statement made available to Reuters after the mass killings had
said 15 members had intended to take tourists hostage in Luxor as a way
to secure the release of Gama'a spiritual leader Omar Abdel-Rahman from
a U.S. jail.
"This proves the falseness (of the statement) seeing as the perpetrators
were just six and they all died in confrontation with the police," the
group said in the latest statement.
"Gama'a leaders abroad were not able to take the initiative to deny this
statement because they could not contact brother Mustafa Hamza, who is
in charge of the Gama'a military wing and is in charge of such things,"
it added.
Hamza, 39, is one of Egypt's most wanted fugitive militants.
By Mona Eltahawy, Reuters
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Apr 13 2001 - 12:56:19 PDT