The
Egyptian Islamic Jihad, also called the
Islamic Jihad and the
Jihad Group, is an
Egyptian Islamic group active since the late
1970s with origins in the
Muslim Brotherhood. It suffered setbacks as a result of numerous arrests of operatives worldwide, most recently in
Lebanon and
Yemen. The organization's primary goals are to overthrow the Egyptian Government and replace it with an Islamic state and to attack
United States and
Israeli interests in Egypt and abroad.
The organization specializes in armed attacks against high-level Egyptian Government personnel, including cabinet ministers, and car-bombings against official US and Egyptian facilities. The original Jihad was responsible for the assassination in
1981 of Egyptian President
Anwar Sadat. It also claimed responsibility for the attempted assassinations of Interior Minister Hassan al-Alfi in August
1993 and Prime Minister Atef Sedky in November 1993. It has not conducted an attack inside Egypt since 1993 and has never targeted foreign tourists there. It is responsible for the Egyptian Embassy bombing in
Islamabad,
Pakistan in
1995; in
1998, a planned attack against the US
Embassy in
Albania was thwarted.
The Egyptian Islamic Jihad operates in the
Cairo area. It has a network outside Egypt, including Yemen,
Afghanistan,
Pakistan,
Sudan,
Lebanon, and the
United Kingdom.
The extent of its aid from outside of Egypt is not known. The Egyptian Government claims that both
Iran and
Osama Bin Ladin support the Jihad. It also may obtain some funding through various Islamic nongovernmental organizations, cover businesses, and criminal acts.